Shattered
by blueshabooties
Summary: AU… What if Shelley Pomeroy’s party had much larger repercussions? Begins pre-series
1. Prologue

**Title:** Shattered

**Rating:** M

**Summary:** AU… What if Shelley Pomroy's party had much larger repercussions? Begins pre-series

**Spoilers:** Eventually all 3 seasons

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

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She stood in the bathroom of her apartment, staring at the reflection in the mirror. She stared at the eyeliner and mascara mess that ran down the pale cheeks in tearstained rivulets. At the tangled and knotted blonde tresses that had been styled into soft waves only the night before. At the broken strap of the pure white dress that hung off one trembling shoulder.

The girl in the mirror was not Veronica Mars. Veronica was usually described by people as being sweet, kind, and even a little naïve. Or at least they used to say that. Now most people simply call her a traitorous slut. But the girl looking back at her was none of these things. She was nothing, barely a shadow of a person.

With shaking hands, Veronica removed all the jewelry she had been wearing and haphazardly dumped them on top of the toilet tank, not even caring when she saw the necklace Lilly had given her fall to the floor. Then she unzipped the side of her dress, allowing it to slide down her body. She stepped into the shower and turned on the water as hot as she could. Closing her eyes, she began to scrub with the scalding water. Her feet, which had been covered in dirt from her walk home, were slowly cleaned by the gathering water. She watched as the dirty water trailed across the white porcelain until it swirled down the drain.

Veronica scrubbed every inch of herself until the water turned cold. She wrapped herself in a towel and collected everything from the bathroom. Walking to her room, she saw that her father was still not home. He was currently chasing another bail jumper, the third one this month. They needed the money, not only to pay for the apartment they had been forced to move into, but also for the space her father was planning on renting for his new detective agency. She was glad that he was not here. That he had not seen her like this. It would have broken him, and seeing him hurt would have completely shredded the tenuous hold she currently had on herself.

She dropped the dress in a dark corner of her closet and quickly pulled out an old pair of pajamas to wear. Sitting down on her pink bed, she stared at the pattern of purple kittens that ran up her pant legs. The last time she had worn these pajamas was before Lilly died. She had slept over at the Kane mansion and they spent all night giggling and gossiping. They had talked about school, Logan, Duncan, and all their other friends. The same friends who had all been at Shelley's party last night. One of those friends who had…

She did not even want to think the word again. She had said it once so far, when she told Lamb about what had happened. He laughed at her and told her, "Go see the wizard. Ask for a little backbone." She had not allowed herself to think about it again. After she left the station, she made sure to focus all her attention on getting herself home. Then she concentrated on the shower, and how it felt like each drop of water scorched her skin. The pain kept her thoughts at bay.

Now there was nothing to stop her from thinking about it. She knew that the drink that had been handed to her must have been roofied. It was the only explanation for the gaping black hole between her stumbling to a lounge chair and waking up in a bedroom with her underwear on the floor. It was also the reason she did not know which one of them did it.

Veronica felt the tears streaming down her face and she quickly brushed them away. She did not want to cry anymore. She could feel all the hurt, anger, sadness, and confusion churning within her. This was not supposed to have happened to her. They were not supposed to have done this to her. These were her friends. They all grew up together. She knew most of the '09ers only were friends with her because of Lilly, but now they treated her as if she was some sort of disease. They talked about her behind her back, and sometimes in front of her face. They hurled spitballs and crumbled paper at her. They wrote nasty messages on her car and locker. Now one of them had hurt her. Severely hurt her.

They were trying to break her.

And they were winning.

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A/N: Please review if you think this is worth continuing


	2. Chapter 1

**Title:** Shattered

**Rating:** M

**Summary:** AU… What if Shelley Pomeroy's party had much larger repercussions? Begins pre-series

**Spoilers:** Eventually all 3 seasons

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

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She **was** Lilly's best friend.

She **was** Duncan's girlfriend.

She **was** one of the Fab Four.

She **was**, at least by association, an '09er.

Now what was she? She was not going to be a victim. That much had already been decided while she scrubbed the words "SLUT" and "ABEL IT SHOULD'VE BEEN HER" off her car. She no longer wanted to be the girl who kept her head down, with tears in her eyes, while she pulled spitballs out of her hair. Or while Logan and Dick walked behind her in the halls, loudly debating whether it was her white-trash background or just plain whoring tendencies that caused her to give blow jobs to every member of the football team. Or while Duncan would stare through her with dull eyes, acting as if he was not aware she existed.

It had been two weeks since the party. A few hours after she came home that morning, her mother had stumbled into the apartment and immediately went into her own bedroom, without checking on Veronica. Veronica used the time to compose herself, even managing to force a smile when her father came home with a grin and a paycheck. He excitedly told her and Lianne that he could now afford to rent the office space. Her mother had just blankly stared at him and then turned wordlessly back to the bedroom.

Later that day, Veronica had gotten her car and parked it a few blocks away from the apartment complex. It took the rest of the day to clean, but the words were still faintly visible if she squinted. Veronica was sure, though, that people would only see it if they knew to look.

The first Monday after the party that Veronica had driven into school, she sat in her car until the bell rang for homeroom. Then she shakily walked to her class, spending the rest of the day ignoring the vicious stares and taunts. She even spent her lunch period in the girl's bathroom with the door blocked shut. She did not know what disgusted her more, her own stupidity for accepting that drink that night or the fact that she had already rescinded on her oath to not let them get to her anymore.

The next day went only slightly better. She still could not look anyone in the face, but she did manage to spend the whole lunch period sitting at a table in the courtyard. Of course, the only empty table happened to be the one across from the '09er elite. The table that Duncan, Logan, Dick, Beaver, Madison, Shelley, and all the other extremely rich sat at. For once, they left her alone for a period. She should have known it was too good to be true when she awoke that night to hear Backup barking at the door. On her porch, sat a burning bag of dog poop and she could see a flash of blond hair racing out the main gate in the distance.

Two weeks later, Veronica stood next to her father staring at the first good thing that has happened to her family since Lilly died. In front of her was a closed glass door, with a piece of white computer paper taped to it. Words written on it in permanent marker read, "**Mars Investigations**."

"Well," Veronica said, looking at her father's uneven scrawl. "That looks classy."

"I'm going to have the professionals come and put up the real sign in a few days," her father informed her, too excited to even take notice of her jibe. "Come on. Let's take a look around shall we." He opened the door for her and with an overdramatic flourish, he gestured for her to enter. She smiled at her father's antics as she walked into the new Mars Investigations. The room consisted mainly of a couple chairs along the wall, a few filing cabinets, and a wooden desk at the very end of the room.

"I'm also going to have to put a sign outside," he chattered as she circled the room. "I want to replace those chairs with a couch and hang a picture over it. Get some lamps to light up the place. Maybe even have a couple plants around."

"Is that your desk?" she asked, pointing to the desk by the windows.

"Nope," he said, a broad smile on his face. He grabbed her by the shoulders and led her to a closed door across from the desk. Turning the knob, he revealed yet another room that was empty except for a couple chairs and a larger desk. "That," he informed her, "is my desk. In my office." He turned her around and brought her back into the larger room. "This desk is for my receptionist. Or will be when I get one. I'm going to need a hardworking, reliable receptionist to answer the calls, take messages, do the filing. You know, all the glamorous things usually attributed to the P.I. industry. I can imagine her now, a girl of about sixteen, sitting at that desk and doing my paperwork." He sighed as he turned to her. "Do you know where I can find someone like that?"

She bit back her smile. "Are you asking me to be your secretary?"

"Are you offering?"

"I don't have to call you Mr. Mars, do I?"

"No," he answered, with a definite shake of his head. "Just call me the All-Mighty Commander of All Things Cool."

She crinkled her nose. "It's kind of a mouthful."

"Alright, alright," he conceded. "We'll just put it on a sign and you can hold it up whenever I walk into the room." She raised an eyebrow at him. "Here," he said, leading her to the desk. "You just sit here and get yourself acquainted with your new work area and I'll go down the block to get us some Chinese. We'll christen our new office in the Mars family way!"

"By eating here?" she asked.

"Yup," he answered, popping the 'p' sound at the end of the word.

Veronica smiled. "But what about Mom? Shouldn't she be here for the Mars family inauguration?"

The smile quickly fell off her father's face, but he tried to muster up another one just as fast. "You're mom called a little while ago. She's going out with some friends tonight. So, dear daughter of mine, it's going to be just you and me in this shindig." She nodded and he winked, slipping out the door to get them their food.

Veronica sighed heavily and sat in the chair. That was the fourth time this week that her mother had been 'out with friends'. She was not even sure she wanted to know what her mother was doing when she would leave in the afternoon and not come back until well into the night. They barely ever saw each other. Veronica knew her mother was beyond angry at her father for everything. For sticking by his accusations of Jake Kane, which caused the whole town to turn on them. For losing his position as the Sheriff, which meant they no longer had a steady income. For having them move to an apartment in one of the poorer sections of Neptune. Even for opening Mars Investigations. Her mother just wanted to leave town and start over again.

Veronica was starting to think that maybe that was not such a bad idea. The only reason that she agreed with her father that they should stay was because she believed in him. If he thought Jake Kane was Lilly's murderer, then so did Veronica. He wanted to stay and prove to these people that he was not going to be run out of town for telling the truth. She respected that. But these people, they were so consumed by their money and power that they would never believe the man who made them so rich could be a murderer. In their minds, the murderer had been caught and the Mars family was the devil's spawn.

Maybe they should move away. Her father could open his detective agency in another town, preferably one with a more normal income distribution curve. Her mother would get what she wants and so she would start spending more time at home. Her parents had drifted so far apart that Veronica knew it would be too hard for them to reconcile here. She needed her mother to be here with her. After losing Lilly, having all her friends turn on her, and then the party, she wanted her mother.

Veronica loved Lilly. They had been best friends for most of their lives. But, she did not want to live under the shadow of her death for the rest of her life. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Lilly lying by the side of the pool, with the blood drying on one side of her face and her golden mane fanned out around her like some sort of halo. Her unseeing eyes would stare at Veronica, until she closed her own to escape the sight of her friend looking like a broken angel. She could almost hear Lilly snort at the idea of being compared to an angel. Then she would open her eyes, squinting at the light glaring in on her. She would look down and push the green duvet away to find herself wearing the white dress again, her underwear lying mockingly only a couple feet away. A man would be standing near the door, his face hidden in shadows, waiting for her to stand up. Waiting for her to walk toward the door. Waiting for her to get close enough that he could grab her and pull her into the shadows with him.

The dreams were starting to get to her. She could barely sleep at night. Then she would have to force herself to not fall asleep in school, just in case someone like Dick would write something on her face. She was constantly exhausted, from not sleeping and the stress of just going to school every day without breaking down. Her father was worried. He was always asking her if she was okay and telling her that she could tell him anything. Even her mother had noticed. She was starting to talk about sending Veronica to see a therapist.

Veronica did not want to see a therapist. She just wanted things to be normal again. But when her father came back, bearing food and jokes, she smiled and forced herself to adjust to what was now her new normal.

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A/N: Okay, so I'm a little nervous about this story because I think Veronica might be somewhat out of character. Part of this problem is that between writing the prologue and this chapter, I completely did a 180 and changed what this story was going to be about. So I'm trying to make this chapter's tone match with that one, even though they both are pointing in two different directions. The other part of this problem is that at this moment in the story, Veronica is transitioning between personalities. Before the rape, I believe she was still the sweet naïve girl who dated Duncan and was friends with Lilly. After it, she became the person who used sarcasm to hold people at a distance and had detective work to keep her mind off her personal problems. Right now, she is developing into that.

Sorry if that explanation was rambling, that kind of happens to me a lot.

Anyway, please review if you have any thoughts on improvement. Those are really helpful.


	3. Chapter 2

**Title:** Shattered

**Rating:** M

**Summary:** AU… What if Shelley Pomeroy's party had much larger repercussions? Begins pre-series

**Spoilers:** Eventually all 3 seasons

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

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"So how have we been this week, Veronica?"

How have we been doing? Well, this week has been fairly similar to every other week from the past four months. **WE** spent our Monday afternoon trying to get rid of the stench from the dead fish someone had left on the backseat of our car. On Tuesday, **WE** discovered three empty vodka bottles hidden in the bottom of our kitchen garbage. While on Wednesday, **WE** had to pull gum out of our hair during third period AND spend the rest of the night listening to our parents argue through the bedroom wall. Then, on Thursday, **WE**…

"Veronica?" Dr. Dave prompted from his side of the ottoman.

She looked up and smiled tightly. "Fine. A very uneventful week." Her mother had carried through on the threat to send her to a counselor six weeks ago. Now, she has to come see Dr. Dave every Thursday after school from four to five. He had tried unsuccessfully to get her to open up on the first day. He had asked her how she felt about Lilly's death and what effects did she think it had on her life. She was able to successfully dodge answering, and by the second week he realized it was a lost cause. Usually, after the opening "How are we doing this week?" question, they just stared at each other for an hour.

"Your mother tells me you haven't been eating?"

Veronica rolled her eyes as she leaned back into the chair's padded cushion. When exactly had her mother been home long enough to make that observation? "I'm not anorexic," she said.

Dr. Dave looked up from the clipboard he had been reading. "I'm not suggesting that you are. I'm just stating what your mother told me. She's concerned."

"Mom doesn't see me eat because I usually eat at the office."

"And that would be your father's office? His detective agency?" Veronica nodded. "Your mother did say you have been spending a lot of time there? Helping him on cases?"

"Yeah, and I'm good at it," she responded defensively.

"What exactly is it that you do?" he asked, raising his pen over the paper he had been taking his notes on.

"Mostly answering the phones. Just getting the information from the clients before I hand the cases over to Dad," she lied. In reality, she had been doing a lot more. Her father had been taking her out on stakeouts and even let her come undercover with him a couple times to retrieve evidence. After he realized that she was much better with the camera than him, he gave her the job of getting the money shot on a couple of his cheating spouse cases.

"Okay," he said, obviously backing off the topic. "What about school?"

"What about it?"

"How are you getting along with the other students?"

"Fine and dandy," she answered, with a falsely cheery voice. "We're even learning to share in the sandbox."

Dr. Dave sighed and glanced down at his watch.

"Time to go?" she guessed. He nodded and she stood up, picking her backpack off the floor. They said goodbye as she walked out the door. Veronica felt a little bad about how sarcastic she had been. Dr. Dave was a good guy and he was just trying to help, but she didn't need his help. She didn't want to need anyone's help.

Her mother wasn't waiting for her in the lobby, so she walked home alone. Veronica was a little shocked that she wasn't there, considering that her mother picked her up each week just to make sure she was not skipping out on the sessions. Not that she would have anyway. Her parents were spending good money on this shrink, even though she didn't need one, and they just didn't have that kind of money to waste. The detective agency had been getting a steady stream of clients since it opened, mostly from the lower social class of Neptune. They weren't as morally outraged by the former sheriff's supposed "goof up" and so they were willing to pay him to do their dirty work. But his new income was nothing close to the money he had brought home before.

When she slipped her key into the lock and opened the door, she realized from the lack of hyperactive barking and drool on her shoes that her father must have brought Backup to work. Veronica was about to call out that she was home when she heard low whispering. She listened carefully and followed the sound to her parents' closed bedroom door. Pressing her ear close to the wood, she could hear her mother frantically whispering to someone. There was no other voice, so her mother must be on the phone. She could only hear a few random words, so she inched even closer.

"… arrived this morning. It was her in the pictures." Pictures, Veronica thought. What pictures? "I'll leave in the morning. Please, just stop with the threats. I swear I'll leave town in the morning, Jake!" Jake Kane? Veronica tried to hold back the panic that was bubbling in her stomach. Jake Kane was threatening her mother? Was he so angry about her father's accusations that he was going to hurt her mother? Did this prove he really was the murderer? "Yes, Jake! These are threats. There is a bulls-eye in each picture. Just please stop! I swear I won't do the paternity test! Just stop threatening my daughter! Stop threatening our daughter!"

Veronica felt her heart stop. "Our daughter"? What was she talking about? Jake Kane was not her father. Keith Mars was her father. The only way that would be possible… was if her mother had been having an affair for over sixteen years. But if Jake was her father, that meant Duncan was…

She instantly ran to the bathroom and spilt the contents of her stomach. When she was done, she pulled herself up to wash the vile taste out of her mouth. Her gaze landed on her face in the mirror. She didn't look like Jake Kane, at all. But she had never looked like her father either. People had always said she looked exactly like Lianne. Though, people had also always said that she and Lilly could pass for sisters. Lilly had told her that was just because they were destined to be best friends.

Oh God, Veronica thought as she slid to the floor. Her mother had lied to her. Her whole life! Did her father know? Did he know she was not really is? She could feel the tears streaming down her face and she wiped them away with a trembling hand. For the millionth time since the day she died, Veronica wished Lilly was here. If Lilly had been here, Veronica would not have felt as alone as she does now. Lilly would have been thrilled, bouncing up and down in excitement. She would have talked for hours about how fabulous it was that they were sisters. Not just in-laws, like they had planned, but actually blood related.

It wasn't fabulous though. For the second time in four months, Veronica was getting her life ripped away from her. After Lilly died, Duncan and Logan turned their backs on her. Logan had even gone so far as to make sure that the rest of the school hated her too. The only people she had left were her parents, but even her mother pulled away. Her father was all she had. He was the only one who still loved her. The only one she could trust.

But now she didn't have him either. She truly was all alone. Or, at least she hoped she was.

Veronica eyed her bag that was lying only two feet away. She slowly stood, taking the halting steps toward it. Glancing out the door, she saw that her parents' bedroom door was still closed. Her mother was still on the phone. Or, she was packing her bags to leave town. To abandon her family.

She closed the door to the bathroom and put the schoolbag on the sink. Slowly, she unzipped it and pulled out the white paper bag that was on top of her books. It had the blue logo on it for the Neptune Pharmacy. Her shaking hands pulled out the pregnancy test. She hadn't noticed the first time she missed her period. In order to avoid thinking about everything, she had thrown herself into working at the agency. She focused only on helping her father with cases and learning as much as she could from him.

Soon, though, she started feeling tired and dizzy all the time. Then she began feeling nauseous. She tried to convince herself she was getting sick. That all the stress and lack of sleep was finally catching up with her. But, then her second period came and went. There was no denying it then.

She followed the instructions to the letter and then left it face down on the counter across from her. It would take five minutes. She didn't care if it took forever. She didn't want to know. Especially now that what little she had left in life had just crumbled away.

Veronica Mars could not have a baby. She couldn't have this baby, even if it had not been conceived this way. If this baby had been created in love, she still would not be able to have had it. She was only sixteen.

There was nothing that she could offer this baby. What kind of life could she provide for it? She was barely surviving her own life. Her mother was a cheating alcoholic who lied to Veronica her whole life and was at this moment planning to abandon her. The man who raised her is apparently not her father, whether he knows it or not. She may have had an incestuous relationship with her ex-boyfriend. One of her former friends has made it his sole purpose to make her life a living hell. And, she was being haunted at night by her dead best friend.

A baby did not deserve to be brought into this. What if it were to ask who its father was? She would ruin her own child's life just by telling it how it came into existence. Then it would hate itself and her.

But when she picked up the white stick and saw the two pink lines, she knew that she could not do it. She could not get rid of it. There had been so much tragedy and death in the past four months. She could not be the cause of more.

She would have the baby, and then give it up for adoption. This way it would at least have a chance at a decent life. But not here in Neptune. She couldn't have the baby here, where whoever had done this to her would know.

She had to leave.

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A/N: Okay from this point on I'm admittedly treading on thin ice. This was a route that I have been debating about taking for awhile now. These "pregnant after the party" stories have been done to death and I may have very well just entered the stereotypical/ hackneyed/ corny zone. The reason why I have ultimately chosen to stick with it is because Veronica needs to leave Neptune. And I cannot justify her choosing to abandon her father and her search for Lilly's murderer in any other way. My title "Shattered" is referring to the fact that with her departure, the Veronica Mars universe that we have grown to love has fallen apart. My plan for this story, and hopefully I can portray it correctly, is to show what would happen to Neptune if Veronica was not there to solve everybody's problems. Or maybe, with her detective work, she ultimately had caused more damage than good? I don't know yet, these are the ideas I'm toying with.

A/N2: Also, if you think that Veronica would still not leave town, even if she was pregnant, just remember that in my last note I mentioned that this story is starting out in the middle of her personality transition. She is not the Veronica that we know from the show yet. She is still confused about who she is and does not yet know quite how to deal with everything that is on her plate. I feel that this moment, paired with the right catalyst (such as a pregnancy due to her rape), would cause her to make such an out of character decision.


	4. Chapter 3

**Title:** Shattered

**Rating:** M

**Summary:** AU… What if Shelley Pomeroy's party had much larger repercussions? Begins pre-series

**Spoilers:** Eventually all 3 seasons

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

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After Veronica buried the test and its box at the bottom of the bathroom garbage, she crept out the front door with the garbage bag in one hand and her backpack in the other. Her mother had never left her bedroom. She would never know that Veronica had been home to hear her conversation with Jake Kane.

Veronica dumped the garbage in the communal dumpster and then got into her car. She needed to start preparing. She was going to have to leave tonight. If she left right away, maybe Jake Kane would stop threatening her family and then her mother would be able to stay. Veronica did not want to even think of what would happen to her father if he lost everyone he loved at once.

In her mind, all her thoughts were swirling around at a dizzying speed. Thoughts about her mother. Her father. Jake Kane. Duncan. Lilly. This baby. It was all too overwhelming to sort out right now, and so she started making plans in her head to block it all out. If she was going to disappear, she was going to need money. Lots of money. She made a right and began driving to her bank. She opened an account there when she was seven and had been saving almost every dime she had gotten since then. At the time, she was saving for a pony. But as she got older, after her mother told her that she could not have a horse living in her bedroom, she decided to save it for college. She had been thinking of maybe going to Stanford someday.

At the bank, she spoke to the manager and told him that she was closing her account. They handed her every penny of her life savings about ten minutes later. It came out to a total of forty-three thousand and five hundred dollars. For once, she was glad to be living in an area populated by people who considered that to be pocket change because the man did not even blink an eye when he gave it to her. To her, though, it was a lot of money. She had gotten most of it from her various birthdays. Wealthy friends were always good for giving large checks as presents. Her last party, her Sweet Sixteen, had been back in August, while she still had Lilly and most of her other friends. A large chunk of this money had come from then. A couple months ago, when her parents first realized they could not afford their house, Veronica had offered to give them the money so that they could at least pay some of the bills while her father got a new job. Her mother had gotten a hopeful glint in her eyes, but it quickly faded when her father said that they would not use her college money. He swore that he would be able to fix everything himself.

Tucking the money in the bottom of her bag, she went back to her car. She made it back safely and breathed a sigh of relief. With her luck, this would be the day that she would get mugged. Driving back to her house, she realized that she would need to get rid of her car. Her father would most definitely try to track her. With all her money in her bag, she could avoid leaving a paper trail, but the car would be a very easy way to find her. Her heart sank at the thought of having to get rid of her LeBaron, the gift she had begged her parents for and had finally gotten at her Sweet Sixteen. Her father had been so proud to be able to pick out a gift that did not embarrass his now "grown up" daughter in front of all her friends, even if this car looked like it came out of crackerjack box in comparison to Lilly's and Logan's cars.

As she parked in her spot by the apartment complex, she came to the conclusion that she would drive the car out of Neptune, while it was still too early for anyone to realize she was gone. Then she would leave it somewhere. She had no idea where she could possibly go, but it had to be far away enough that he would not be able to find her for awhile. Although she knew he would relentlessly search to the ends of the world for her. Even if he did know she was not really his daughter.

All she could feel was dread as she slowly made the trek back to her apartment. She was not sure of what she was more worried about. The fact that she was about to go face her parents for the first time since finding out her whole life with them might have been a sham. The fact that she might open these doors and find her mother already gone. Or the fact that this may be the last time she sees her parents without them hating her for running away and abandoning them at a time when they need her most.

The smell of cooking waffles and the sound of sizzling bacon assaulted her senses as she walked in the front door. Her mother was standing at the counter, her back to Veronica, taking a finished waffle out of it's maker and placing it on a plate that held a tower of waffles that was already dangerously wobbling.

Her mother saw Veronica standing at the door. "Hey, sweetie," she greeted with a wide grin.

"Hey," she replied, a lot less enthusiastically, staring at the food. She then turned to the clock that read six thirty p.m. "Isn't it a little early for breakfast?"

Her mother laughed as she placed the waffle plate onto the table next to the maple syrup. "It's for our dinner. I thought you would like it. Don't you remember how often you used to beg me to make you waffles for dinner? You always would say that it was the greatest invention and should be eaten for every meal of the day." Veronica nodded, deciding not to remind her mother that she had been five at the time and had grown up enough since then to realize that there were other foods in the world besides waffles.

"Do you want to set the table with me?" her mother asked, smiling while handing her a pile of forks and napkins. Veronica smiled back as they made small talk and prepared for dinner. She wondered if her mother was working so hard to make everything look normal because she felt guilty that she was about to leave, just like Veronica.

"I'm sorry I didn't meet you at the doctor's office, but I got caught up in the food shopping," her mother lied. "How did it go?"

"Great," she lied right on back. "I think we made a real breakthrough."

Her mother beamed as she placed the last plate on the table. "That's great. I knew it would help." She glanced up at the clock over the stove. "Your father should be here any minute. Why don't you go wash up before dinner?"

Veronica nodded and walked toward the door. Pausing for only a moment, she watched her mother singing to herself while she got a carton of lemonade from the refrigerator. As angry as Veronica was with her and as much as she wanted to hate her, she just could not. She lied to her, but she was still her mother. And Veronica loved her. She would rather keep this memory of her mother happily making waffles then remember her as the one who cheated on her father all these years.

As she washed her hands, she heard the front door open and pounding paws racing into the apartment. She opened the bathroom door and the dog was immediately laying at her feet, his legs sticking out in the air as he waited expectantly for her to rub his belly.

"How you doing, Backup?" she asked, patting him on the stomach. He wagged his tail excitedly at the sound of her voice. They both stood up when he had enough and walked into the kitchen.

"Honey, look what we're having for dinner?" Her father said to her as she sat down in the chair across from him.

"I know. It's very exciting." She smiled at the thrilled look on his face. It had been a long time since they had all been together as a family and she knew it was really bothering him. She tried to focus on the moment and her parents' cheery faces, instead of the little voice in the back of her mind that was telling her how she was going to ruin it all in less than twelve hours.

They spent the dinner talking and laughing, for the first time in a long time. Then, they all sat on the couch watching a movie on television. Her father had an arm around her and she felt safe. When they all finally went to sleep, Veronica could feel herself choking up as she kissed her parents good night.

She closed the door to her room and just stood there a moment, preparing herself for what she was going to have to do. She wished she had at least had more time. Feeling as ready as she was ever going to be, she pulled an old duffel bag out from under her bed and threw the money from her backpack in it. After, she began filling it with clothes from her closet. She was packing some of her favorite shirts when she realized that soon she probably would not be fitting into any of them. So, she pulled most of them out and threw them on the floor. Then she began packing all of her loosest items of clothing, ones that she knew she would be able to wear for awhile. She then placed things on top that she figured she could probably sell when she needed more money, like some jewelry and the laptop her father had bought her last year. Then, remembering what was hidden at the bottom of her underwear drawer, she pulled out the fake ids she and Lilly had made. Veronica had buried them there when they arrived a few days after Lilly died. Hers said her name was Erica Smith and that she was twenty-one. She threw them both in her bag.

On her desk sat two pictures that she placed in her bag, in between some clothes so that they would not wrinkle. The first was a picture of her and her parents standing outside Space Mountain in Disneyworld when she was seven. The second was of her, Lilly, Duncan, and Logan on Homecoming night. She figured if she was going to take anything to remember Neptune, it would be of her happiest moments.

Sitting down at the desk, she pulled out a piece of paper and a pen to write her parents a letter. She could not just leave and let them think that someone had kidnapped her. Had hurt her. Had done to her what they did to Lilly.

She wrote that she needed to leave. That it was just all getting to be too much for her and that she had to go somewhere where she was not living with a daily reminder of Lilly. She begged them not to come find her, saying that she would be much happier now. She told them that she loved them and that she always would. Then she signed her name and left it on her bed. It was not at all what she wanted to say. She wanted to tell them so much more, but she could not. There was not much that she could write in that letter to explain why she was being heartless enough to run away and put them through the hell of always wondering where she was.

Veronica silently opened the door to her room and then closed it behind her. She tiptoed past her parent's door, which was also still closed. She hoped that meant her mother had not decided to leave yet. Almost at the front door, she stopped when she saw her father's briefcase sitting on top of the living room table. She debated with herself for a second and then quietly placed her own heavy bag on the floor. Inside his briefcase she knew he always carried an untraceable cell phone, just in case he ever needed one while out on a job. If she had one, she could ensure that she would be able to call her family without her father tracking her down. It relieved some of the fear to know that there would always be a way to contact them. That she was not completely cut off. She opened it and found three phones. She placed them all in the outer pocket of her bag.

As she picked up her bag again, she heard the tinkling of nails hitting the hardwood floor. She turned to find Backup coming up beside her. He looked at her curiously with his head tilted slightly to the side, as if wondering what she was doing up at a time he knew she was meant to be safely asleep. She knelt in front of him and pulled him closer. She kissed him on the soft fur on top of his head. "You be a good boy, alright?" she whispered in his ear. When she got up to walk to the door, he began to whinge.

"It's alright," she murmured, giving him one last pet as he quieted. Then, she opened the door and closed it silently behind her. Walking into the chilly night air, she could feel her heart pounding in her chest. This was the first time she had ever snuck out while her parents were asleep. Lilly always used to beg her to, so they could go to various night clubs and pick up older guys, but Veronica was too afraid her father would catch her. Nothing would have embarrassed the town sheriff more than finding his own underage daughter drinking at some bar. At least that was what she thought would be the worst thing that could happen.

Veronica got into her car, putting the bag in the backseat, and turned the engine on. Before, she had parked far enough away that she knew her parents would not hear the car start when she left. She wanted to wait a moment, to look one last time at the building she had been living in for the last three months, but she knew she could not risk it. She drove out of the neighborhood and toward the PCH.

She had only been driving for twenty minutes when she felt the car run over something and she heard a loud noise. There was a rest stop just in front of her and she pulled in. Getting out of the car, she walked around and saw that two of her tires were flat. Whatever had been on the road must have torn holes in them. Sagging against the car, she felt panic inching its way up her chest. What was she supposed to do now?

A tear fell down her face, but she brushed it away when she realized someone was watching her. A few feet away from her, standing between a motorcycle and a dark car, was a guy clad in leather. It had been so dark that she had not noticed him before.

"You know," he said, leaning back against the bike. "A pretty white girl like you shouldn't be all alone out here in a place like this. Bad people could do bad things to you." He shifted slightly and she was able to make out his face in the faint moonlight. She recognized him from school. She had seen him a couple times when she visited Lilly's gym class. He was the leader of the PCH gang. She surreptitiously glanced around, but she did not see any of the others in the area.

She raised an eyebrow that she knew he could not see. "And let me guess, you're one of those big bads?"

He chuckled, "Maybe." Then he moved closer and looked her up and down. "So, are you looking for alcohol or drugs? Or, maybe, you're just here for a good time? You could always come for a ride on my hog?"

She stood her ground, refusing to move back and give him the satisfaction of thinking he had intimidated her. "And why would I be here for that?" He simply pointed to a highway sign and shrugged. Rest Stop 15, she read. Obviously, from the way he was looking at her, that was supposed to mean something.

"I had to stop," she told him, watching him carefully. "My tires are flat."

He walked toward the car and inspected the tires. "Yeah," he agreed. "You aren't goin anywhere on these." He stood back up, wiping his hands on his pants. "I could give you those tires," he said, pointing to the car by the bike. Then he smirked. "For the right price, of course."

"Of course," she repeated, staring at the car. It was old and looked like it had not seen a good day in a long time, but it probably could get a person where they were going. "Is it stolen?"

He glanced at his bike and grinned, "The car isn't"

"How much for the whole car?" she asked, realizing that if she got a new car then she could throw her father off her trail for at least a couple days.

"You want the car?" he asked, looking at her in surprise. She nodded and he studied her closely. He was staring at her strangely and she slightly cringed under the scrutiny. "Well," he said, "since you caught me in a good mood, and I have a new bike to take me home, I'll take five hundred."

Veronica thought the car was worth a lot less than that, but she nodded and walked to her car. She opened the backdoor and unzipped her duffel bag. Using her body to block his view, she pulled the money out. She then handed it to him.

"What about that one?" he asked, referring to her car.

"Leave it here," she said. He stared at her again in that unnerving way and nodded. Then, without another word, he turned away. He hopped onto his bike and rode off, roaring back onto the highway.

Veronica watched him go and then pulled her bag out of her car. She locked her LeBaron, taking the keys with her. She did not want some random person to ride off with it. If anything, she hoped her father would find it and keep it safe for her.

She got into her new car, the inside smelling a lot like cheese doodles. Turning the key that was already in the engine, she once again began riding up the PCH. By tomorrow, she would probably be in the next state. Fear tingled in her gut now that she knew she was really doing this. There was no turning back now and Veronica did not know if or when she would ever come back.

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A/N: So I had been hoping to post this a couple days ago, but I've been away and I had to leave my laptop at home. I really would just like to thank everyone who has been reading, putting the story on alert, and reviewing. A lot more people are actually interested in this story than I expected, so I am very happy right now. You have all given me the encouragement to continue. And just to answer a few questions:

**Kh2009:** If you have read any of my other stories, you may realize that I am a HUGE LoVe fan. So I'm almost a hundred percent sure that there will be LoVe eventually. It's just that I'm not exactly sure right now how everything is going to play out. I guess we'll find out together. LOL

**Jacedes:** I know! I love the father daughter bond that Veronica and Keith have, so my heart is breaking for him. But they will see each other again one day and I'm hoping to explore how this affects their relationship.

**Nichole:** Don't worry, Veronica WILL be back and you will get to see everybody's reactions.

**TSJorSydPip:** I agree that LoVe interactions are some of the greater things in Veronica Mars so I'm hoping to get Veronica back to Neptune soon in this story. It's just that certain things need to occur before that can happen.

Please continue reviewing :)


	5. Chapter 4

**Title:** Shattered

**Rating:** M

**Summary:** AU… What if Shelley Pomeroy's party had much larger repercussions? Begins pre-series

**Spoilers:** Eventually all 3 seasons

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

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"Chlamydia," she repeated. The doctor nodded, sympathy etched across his features. She lowered her gaze to her lap, where her hands rested near her swollen stomach. She had left home eleven weeks ago. The car she bought from the PCHer had taken her all the way to New Mexico before it finally gave out. Then she had taken a bus to Oklahoma. From there, she spent weeks traveling in various cars, buses, and trains. It cost a fortune, but she was almost certain that her father would not be able to track her. She knew that she would have been better disguised if she dyed her hair, but she did not want to risk harming the baby. So, she settled with cutting her long hair into short locks right above her shoulders. Even she did not recognize herself the first time she looked in the mirror.

When she finally arrived in New York, she felt safe enough to stay for longer than three days. She rented the cheapest apartment she could find, though it was not in the greatest of neighborhoods. Then, after finding a somewhat shady person to buy fake identification papers off of, she deemed it alright to visit a doctor. Now she sits in an uncomfortable wooden chair in his office, with her head bowed like a reprimanded child, as he tells her that she may have inadvertently put her own child at risk. Because she had ran away from home in order to protect it, instead of staying and getting herself checked out earlier like she should have.

"Is it going to be alright?" she asked, as the tears brimming in her eyes blurred her vision.

The doctor looked down at the papers on his desk. "With the correct antibiotic, Chlamydia could be treated in seven to ten days. Taking the pregnancy into consideration, I'm going to prescribe Erythromycin." He glanced at her through his wire rimmed glasses. "We're going to have to carefully monitor the rest of your pregnancy. That includes routine testing to ensure that that the infection has not reappeared." She nodded, refusing to look away from his judging eyes. When she first began filling in her papers, she had admitted that she had not yet seen a doctor. Even if he did not say anything, the look in the doctor' eye were criticizing her for not having taken care of this sooner.

Before she left, they made an appointment for her to return in two weeks. Then he handed her a couple of pamphlets and a bottle of pills. "Take only one a day," he told her. She nodded again and walked out the door into the glaring daylight.

Veronica, busily wrapped up in her own thoughts, barely noticed the people she passed as she made her way down the street. She did not know much about pregnancy or STDs. From what she remembered from her eighth grade health classes, having one or the other was really bad. Having both at the same time meant that a person was really screwed. She was REALLY screwed. She wondered for a moment what else there was left to possibly make her life worse. Then she quickly retracted the thought, not needing anymore bad luck to come her way.

She was only vaguely aware that she was standing in front of a diner, one that she knew was in the opposite direction of her crappy apartment. Not really caring, since she had become that much more tired and hungry in the ten minutes since she left the doctor's, she went in and sat at one of the only open booths.

A waitress immediately came over. "Whatta you'll be havin, Hon?"

"A hamburger," Veronica answered without looking at the menu. It was all she seemed to be wanting these days. The woman nodded and went back to the kitchen.

Veronica placed the pamphlets on the table and she stared at the large patronizing words on the covers. She opened the one on top. It contained five long paragraphs on the various ways that Chlamydia could be contracted. What use was that to her if she already had it? The second one was about the effects of the infection in men. She was ready to scream in frustration at the uselessness of that doctor when she saw that the last pamphlet in the pile was about Chlamydia and pregnancy. She had been reading about ectopic pregnancies and premature births when her food arrived.

The hamburger had completely absorbed all of her attention by the time she heard a baby crying in the background. She immediately froze, remnants of her dream from last night floating to her consciousness. In her dream, she had already had the baby and was bringing it back to her dingy apartment. Her father was standing in her living room, telling her that he loved her and missed her. That he wanted her to come home. Then the baby started crying and his eyes darkened as he looked down at it. He turned back to her, an expression on his face so foreign to what she was used to. She had always been able to see how much her father cared about her when he looked at her. Even when he was angry, there were always hints of concern behind the frustrated glares. But when he had seen the baby, the reason why she had left him, there was no love in his stare. Through a clenched jaw, he called her a slut. His voice sounding a lot like the ones she used to hear every lunch period while she was still in Neptune. She began begging him for forgiveness, but awoke in a cold sweat before she could hear his answer.

Veronica turned her head and saw a woman walking behind the counter with a baby in her arms. The infant clad in blue fleece wriggled in her arms and turned at an angle where Veronica could clearly see his face. He eventually quieted when the woman shushed him, altogether stopping as he grasped the plush toy she handed him and shoved it in his mouth.

Watching as the baby contentedly chewed away, she stared down at her own stomach. She was going to have one of those soon. Feeling the tears building up in her eyes she let out a low, aggravated groan. She was sick of crying. Of worrying about what she was going to do next. She did not even think she had enough money to pay rent for the next four months, let alone the hospital bills that are going to be piling up when she finally had this baby. She had not been able to find a job the whole time she was here, not that she was surprised that no one wanted to hire a pregnant sixteen year old.

Veronica had never been all alone before. Never had to take care of herself without someone else to guide her. And now that she was having her first test of self-reliance, she was failing miserably. The only thing that was getting her through the day was knowing that soon she could give the baby to someone else to worry about and go back to her own home. Her own life, as screwed up as it was. At least then she had her dad. And she had decided the day she left that he was her dad, even if he was not biologically her father.

But then she felt guilty of thinking only about herself. This was her child, no matter what, and she had to protect it. Even though she did not know how. If the treatment did not work, the baby could get the infection from her. The pamphlets told her all about the conjunctivitis, pneumonia, and infections that the baby could develop. She dropped her head into her hands, thinking of how she would never forgive herself if it got hurt because of this.

"Are you alright?" She raised her head to see the waitress looking down at her with concern.

Veronica forced a polite smile. "Yeah. Can I have the check please?"

The woman nodded, pulling the notepad out of her apron pocket. "So how far along are you?"

"Uh, five months." Veronica was starting to get asked that question a lot recently and she was getting sick of it. No one has tried touching her stomach yet, but a very pregnant woman in the doctor's waiting room told her it happened as she got bigger. She said it got to the point where she started threatening to chop the hands off of anyone who touched her. Veronica could not help but feel that she would probably say the same thing.

"How old are you?" the woman asked.

Veronica narrowed her eyes at the nosy waitress. What was this an interrogation? "Twenty-one," she lied.

"Humph," the woman grunted as she tore the check she had been writing on out of the little pad and placed it on the table. Veronica picked it up. The hamburger was decently priced, but she should not have eaten out today. It would be better from now on to eat at the apartment and conserve her money.

"Come back tomorrow at around six," the waitress said, interrupting Veronica's thoughts while she pulled out her money.

She raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"I have some maternity clothes you can have."

Veronica shut her mouth, which had been gaping open. "I don't…"

"There my daughter's," the woman interrupted. "She's about your size. Hopefully, she's not going to be needing them again anytime soon." Veronica stared down at her own frumpy attire. Only a few months ago, she would not have been caught dead outside the house in these sweatpants and oversized t-shirt.

She looked back up to respond, but the woman had already walked away. She went behind the counter and picked the baby out of the other woman's arms. Veronica watched as she gestured for the other woman to serve one of the tables and then smiled down at her grandson.

Veronica took on last look at the loving display and then walked out the door of the diner, a hand lightly resting on her own stomach.

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A/N: I admit that I do not know a lot about the effects of Chlamydia on pregnancy, but I did spend an hour looking it up and I'm almost pretty sure I have the details right. Sorry if I don't, I tried.

A/N2: Okay, so like a lot of you, I am very anxious to get Veronica back to Neptune. I've been planning what I have in store for her return and I'm really excited to get to it. Unfortunately, that cannot happen until a specific point and I have been considering moving the next chapter six months ahead. Since Veronica is five months pregnant right now, that will fast forward through the rest of her pregnancy and the birth. There is not a lot that will happen in that time that cannot be briefly mentioned. This will move the story out of pre-series and at least into junior year. After that, I think the rest of my chapters are going to have larger time gaps between them until we get back to Neptune. It's just that the real action is not going down with Veronica at the moment and I don't want to bore all of you. If any of you think this is a bad idea or have any suggestions, please tell me.

Please Review :)


	6. Chapter 5

**Title:** Shattered

**Rating:** M

**Summary:** AU… What if Shelley Pomeroy's party had much larger repercussions? Begins pre-series

**Spoilers:** Eventually all 3 seasons

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

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"Okay, just one more."

They sat on a bench in the garden, framed by a large wood-carved arch with roses entwined around it. The bride, dressed in a flowing strapless white gown, once again looked up at her new husband and smiled gracefully. It was a beautiful tableau. To anyone just passing by, the newlyweds would have looked like a stunning couple who loved each other and were thrilled to be spending the rest of their lives together. That is, though, if that passerby was walking past fast enough that they did not notice the puke green bridesmaid dresses or the painfully forced smiles on the groomsmen's faces.

"Chelsea," the bride began, in a high-pitched voice that foretold an oncoming complaint. Her last list of grievances had caused the maid of honor to burst into a fit of tears and no one could talk her out of a bathroom stall for fifteen minutes. "Could you please make sure Dawn is NOT standing near the window in this photo? In the last three shots, her face looked so disfigured in the natural light that it looked like it belonged on the cover of some horror movie."

Veronica stared at the bitch bride in disbelief, but Dawn gave a trembling nod and moved a couple spots over in the line of bridesmaids, away from the window. Everyone plastered their smiles on again and Veronica snapped the shot.

Lowering the camera, Veronica checked to make sure that no one's heads were cut out of the frame and that they at least looked relatively happy. "Alright," she said. "That's the last one. I'll take these back now and you can contact Mr. Yu about when you will receive your final portraits."

"You can tell Mr. Yu that we will not be paying for anything until we see the final product for ourselves," the bride told her, once again looking Veronica up and down in distaste. She had made it very clear when Veronica first arrived to the reception that she thought Veronica was far too young to be able to take their wedding pictures. Veronica politely nodded, keeping all the satisfying ways she could have responded to that to herself, and walked away from the bridezilla as fast as she could. She had only been there for two hours to take the formal pictures and she was already this close to clawing the woman's face off. If she had been one of the bridesmaids, who had to stay for the rest of the night, she probably would have gone postal.

Sighing in relief, she got into her car and drove back to the store. **Yu's Photography** was only about a half hour away, located on the third floor of the King's Plaza mall in Brooklyn. Veronica had been working there for a little over a year. Mr. Yu had hired her when she was six months pregnant, allowing her to work the cashier behind the counter. A couple months later, he realized she could actually use a camera and allowed her to start taking the in-studio portraits. By now, he allows her to go take the various graduation, prom, wedding, and company party photos that they are hired to do.

Pushing open the glass door, she walked past the store counter and into the back room. Mr. Yu was setting up the camera tripod a couple feet away from where a stool was waiting for the next customer.

"All done," she called out in lieu of a greeting.

Mr. Yu began violently shaking the tripod. "Damn stupid piece of shit," he muttered, as if he had not even heard her. Which he probably had not.

"Mr. Yu," she said, slightly louder this time.

"Huh," he finally looked up, "Oh, you're here. Good. Fix this."

She walked over and took the tripod from him. They had been having problems with this one since the day she started working here. It had probably been broken since way before then too. "Why don't you just get a new one?" she asked, finally getting the camera correctly positioned on it.

"It's just the head that's the problem," he grumbled, "and I've already ordered a new one of those." He picked a magazine off the table and thrust it in her face.

"A Manfrotto 486RC2 Compact Ball Head with RC2 Rapid Connect System ," she read. Looking up at him, she raised an eyebrow. "And it's just a coincidence that this is now seventy-five percent off?"

He grunted and walked out of the room. Chuckling, Veronica followed him. As he began to rifle through papers on the counter, she placed the camera she had been using at the wedding in front of his face.

"Wuest Wedding Photos," she reminded him. He nodded in acknowledgement and placed the camera on a shelf. "What's next?" she questioned, pulling the store's day planner closer so that she could read it.

"Headshots," he answered, pulling the planner back to write something down. "Ron's coming in to do them. You're done for the day. Go home."

"Are you sure?" she asked doubtfully. Ron had probably managed to take at most three photos where he had not gotten his fingers in the shot in the past four years that he had worked at the store. Mr. Yu may seem like a grumpy old man to most, but he had a much bigger heart than he liked for people to know. It was useful when it meant that he would hire a pregnant girl with no work experience or references, but it was a slight disadvantage when it meant that he could not bring himself to fire even the most inept of his employees.

When Mr. Yu merely shooed her away, Veronica shrugged and called a goodbye that was not reciprocated. She got back into her used, but still decent car that she had been saving for months to buy. It was much better than any of the cheap lemons that she had to use back when she was running away from Neptune. Even if the gear shift occasionally gets stuck in park.

Ten minutes later, Veronica was driving down a residential block in Sheepshead Bay. She parked in the driveway of the familiar white house with black shutters and walked up the walkway to the front door. Veronica rang the doorbell and stepped off the porch, which was so tiny that a person could be whacked in the head by the opening door.

Just as she predicted, the door swung open and an elderly woman, with hair dyed pitch black, stepped onto the porch. "Chelsea," the woman said with a large smile. "You're early."

Veronica nodded, smiling back. "I know. I got off early today."

"Well, come along." The woman stepped away from the door and waved her in. "Let's go downstairs." Veronica complied and followed her to the lower level of the house. In the basement, she walked past the couch and television to the playpen in the very corner in the room.

Leaning down, she smiled at the blonde headed toddler looking up at her.

"Mama," the little voice called as short pudgy arms reached out to her. She picked him up and settled him on her hip.

"Sean was very good today," Miss Helen said from beside her. "He ate all his lunch and we even went to play at the park."

"Wow, you went to the park," she said to her son. "Did you have fun?" But Sean was not listening. He was babbling and reaching down to where his plush rabbit was still lying in the playpen. Veronica reached back down, holding him more securely to her side as she got him his Floppy. He immediately grabbed it from her hands and shoved its soft ear in his mouth.

"We had lots of fun," Miss Helen answered for him. Veronica liked Miss Helen, a woman who was probably old enough to have been a babysitter to Abraham Lincoln himself. She had met her through the waitress who had given her the maternity clothes at the diner. Miss Helen had fallen in love with Sean the moment she met him. He was only a month old at the time and she has been his babysitter ever since. It was almost a year now that she had been taking care of him.

Veronica reached down and picked up his bag. "Say bye to Miss Helen," she prompted, waving bye herself. Sean followed her lead and Miss Helen patted him on the head.

"Bye-bye Sean," she called as they went back to the car.

Strapping him into his car-seat in the back of her car, Veronica said, "We're just going to go to Nicky's so that Mommy can eat and then we'll go home. Okay?"

"Kay," he repeated, happily kicking his feet against the padded footrest of his chair. She ran a hand through his thick hair and then shut the door. Getting into the driver's seat, she glanced in the mirror and saw he was once again occupying himself with Floppy.

Veronica stared at her son, who was a spitting image of her with his light blonde hair and blue eyes, thinking for the thousandth time about how she had almost given him up. When she had gone into labor over a year ago, sitting in her apartment by herself, she had frozen in panic and pain. Then, with the help of a neighbor that she had gotten close to over the couple of months she had lived there, she had gone to the hospital. There they scheduled her for a cesarean, which she had decided on having that day she left the doctor's office. Though her treatment for the Chlamydia had been successful, the pamphlets had freaked her out and she decided that she would choose the safest route for her baby no matter what.

While she waited to be taken into surgery, Veronica had reached into the bag she had packed and pulled out one of the untraceable phones. After a few moments of preparing herself, she dialed the number she knew by heart. To this day, she did not know what she had planned to say to him. 'I'm in labor and about to give birth' probably would not have been what she opened with, but she was scared, alone, and in pain. If there was ever a time that she really needed him, that was it. But when she had pressed the call button, all she had gotten was a busy signal.

That was the moment that Veronica really realized how alone she was. That she was going to have to do this alone. That her father would not… could not help her.

Five hours later, when she was handed her tiny, squirming son, she decided that maybe this was the way it was supposed to be. Maybe she was not lying in the note she left her parents. Maybe she really did need to be away from Neptune in order to be happy. She decided at that moment to keep the baby. Her baby.

Veronica had only tried to call her father once since that day. It was on the one year anniversary of Lilly's death. Overall, it had been a really crappy week. She had bills that were getting increasingly hard to pay, a baby that was a little over a month old who barely slept at night, and reminders everywhere she turned of her best friend's murder. Plus, she was pretty sure that her hormones were still a bit out of whack. She had called her father on the second untraceable phone, after her first one had gotten lost somewhere in the hospital, but she panicked the minute she heard his voice and hung up.

After awhile, things had gotten better. She had been able to pay off her bills with the help of the steady income from her job and the baby started sleeping through the night. She had even gotten used to everyone calling her Chelsea Thompson, the random and very common name she had chosen to put on her fake identification papers. Veronica finally came to terms with the fact that Sean was all she had left and she fell in love with him.

For the most part, it was just the two of them and sometimes it felt like they lived in their own little world, one so far apart from her old life. Though that old life seemed to intrude on this one more often then she would like to admit. It was not just her turning on the television and seeing the story of Lilly's unsolved murder on **48 Hours**. There were other reminders as well. Such as the time she happened to notice Aaron Echolls' face on a tabloid and saw that there was an article about how he had had numerous affairs. Then, a couple weeks later, every newspaper and news station in the country was talking about how Lynn Echolls had committed suicide on the Coronado Bridge. Veronica had been shocked when she found out. She had known Lynn since she was twelve and had always liked her. Somewhere, very deep down inside of herself, she had even felt bad for Logan. Although he was a jackass, even he did not deserve to lose his mother. Especially not like that.

Parking her car, Veronica got out and unstrapped Sean from his seat. "Pizza time," she told him as she picked him up. She held him as she walked into the brightly lit pizzeria and up to the counter where all the various pizzas sat in plain view, right behind a layer of glass. They waited on line and she allowed Sean to lean forward and press his palms against the glass, as if he was trying to grab the pizzas. She looked at the pepperoni slice he was reaching for and she whispered in his ear, "That's the one I want, too."

She ordered and walked to a table in the back, the pizza in one hand and Sean in the other. Halfway there, she realized the dilemma she was in. She was one hand short to get him the highchair the pizzeria kept in the corner of the restaurant.

"Here," a voice said from behind her. She turned to see a man walk over to get the highchair and then plunk it down at the table she was aiming for.

Veronica smiled at him. "Thanks, Tony."

"No problem," he replied, a lopsided grin forming across his face. Tony was one of the sons of Nicky, the owner of the pizzeria. She had come here so often during her trips from the babysitter's house to her own, that most of the employees knew both her and her son by name. Tony, though, had always seemed to take the task upon himself to bring her food to her and make sure that Sean always had somewhere to sit. He was a really nice guy and Veronica liked talking to him. Though, sometimes she would get depressed when he talked about his college classes because all she could think about was how she was a high school dropout who might never go to college. Not that he knew that. She had told everyone that she was twenty-two and had already graduated from high school in Illinois.

Veronica put the pizza on the table and sat Sean in the wooden highchair. He immediately began reaching for the slice that was just outside his reach. When he finally realized that he could not grab it, he looked up at her with the most pitiful expression on his face. "Mama," he said hopefully. She cut him off a tiny piece and watched him carefully as he shoved it in his mouth, making sure he did not choke on it.

"So how's the little man?" Tony asked, sitting in the chair across from Veronica.

She smiled as she picked up her slice. "Aren't you supposed to be working?" she asked in return, before biting into her dinner.

"The slave driver is getting his eyes checked out. He shouldn't be back for while, so I'm taking an extended break," he said, smirking. Veronica just shook her head and smiled, enjoying the normality she felt whenever she was around him. He was one of the most laid-back, easy going people she had ever met. Except for Lilly, of course. Even Sean liked him, and he was at that stage where he was ready to pitch a fit when any stranger came too near to him.

"Oh, that's just terrible," some woman from a nearby table murmured. Veronica and Tony both looked up to see most of the occupants of the pizzeria staring at the television mounted on the wall.

"Vinny, turn it up," Tony called to his brother behind the counter. The volume grew louder and the news anchor's voice rang through the small restaurant.

"Hours ago," the man said, "a school bus, containing six high school students, one teacher, and the bus driver plunged off a ninety foot cliff and into the ocean in Neptune, California. At the moment, there is believed to be only one survivor. The local police department is currently investigating, but very early reports speculate that it may have been a suicide attempt on the part of the bus driver."

"What kind of freak would kill himself and take a bunch of kids along for the ride?" Tony muttered in disgust. Veronica could not answer. She could barely breathe. She wondered how many of those students she had known. How many of them had used to be her friends. And just like that, her nice little bubble was popped.

No matter where she ran to, she would never be able to escape Neptune.

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A/N: Okay so I've been a little late with an update because right now I've been spending most of my time getting burnt on the beach and writing chapters for _The Fire of Life_. I've been debating on whether or not to continue this one, because though I love working on it, I'm not sure if a lot of people are still interested in this story. I know it's been taking awhile to get to the action so I shot past the point I had originally planned to go to in this chapter and made it start up in the beginning of the second season. This means that, in one or two more chapters, I can make a smooth transition back to Neptune and the mysteries that wait there.

So please review and tell me if this is worth continuing :)


	7. Chapter 6

**Title:** Shattered

**Rating:** M

**Summary:** AU… What if Shelley Pomeroy's party had much larger repercussions? Begins pre-series

**Spoilers:** Eventually all 3 seasons

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

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Towel?

Check.

Sunscreen?

Check.

A tiny life vest fit for a two year old and an inflatable alligator pool toy?

Check.

If there were any doubts about how girly she could be, Veronica put them all to rest every time she went to Babies' R' Us and spent hours looking in the aisles upon aisles filled with clothes and toys. She usually did not have enough money to buy half the things she wanted to, but she had been saving for awhile and was able to buy a bunch of new toys for Sean this month.

"Alright, Birthday Boy, just give me one more minute," she said, shoving everything they would need into a cloth bag.

Her son, who was sitting on her bed watching Sesame Street, threw his toy blocks down in excitement and began clapping his hands. "My birthday," he crowed gleefully.

"Your birthday," she repeated, readjusting the strap to the bathing suit she was wearing under her t-shirt while she searched for a hat for him in her dresser drawers.

"Beach now?" he asked from behind her.

She closed the drawer she had been searching in and opened the one right above it. "Very soon, baby." Today, they were going to be spending his second birthday at Coney Island. For his first birthday, he had spent most of the day with Miss Helen and Veronica had only been able to give him a little mini celebration with an ice cream cake she had bought from Carvel in her haste to get home from a late night at her job. She had hated that his first birthday was such a letdown, but she vowed to make the second one even better. So to make up for it, they were going to spend today at the beach, go on a few rides at Astroland, and maybe even stop by the aquarium that was right on the edge of the boardwalk. At the age of two, Sean did have a few friends that he had made at the park. He had even gone on a couple of play dates at their houses, where Veronica spent torturous hours making conversation with mothers twice her age while the toddlers played. These mothers would usually spend their time giving her 'sage' advice that any moron could figure out. She hated it when these people figured that she was incapable of taking care of Sean and probably neglected him just because she was so young. If only they knew how young she actually was, they probably would have called Child Services.

But she did not want to make today about fending off those idiots' stupid remarks, so she decided that she would rather have a small celebration at the beach instead of a larger party in Miss Helen's basement. It would be the perfect place to be in the late August heat. Just her, Sean, and Tony.

She and Tony had gotten a lot closer over the past eleven months. They were not exactly a couple, since she did not really have the time for dating when she was taking care of Sean and working a full time job. She was also not a hundred percent sure if she was ready for that, considering the ton of emotional baggage that she was most definitely still carrying around somewhere in the recesses of her mind. But he was sweet to her and would talk to her about things she was interested in, something she did not right away realize she had been missing in all the babbling conversations she had with her baby. He even did not mind that the few 'sort-of dates' that they had were spent with a toddler between them watching an inane cartoon.

In many ways, he helped her forget about everything she had left behind. If she had not had him to talk to, she probably would have spent a lot more time stuck with her thoughts about Neptune. Thoughts about her father. Her mother. Her other possible father.

It had nearly driven her crazy that, after she saw that newscast on the bus crash, everyone had been talking about Neptune for weeks afterward. She had wanted to know as well about what had happened and who was hurt, but it had caused too many emotions to resurface that she had carefully stowed away. She was glad when it was finally resolved, only a month later, with the suicide note being found on Ed Doyle's computer. With that mystery solved, the rest of the country had forgotten about the small town tragedy. Veronica tried to forget as well, but a nagging suspicion in the back of her mind kept telling her for months that it was too clean of a resolution. Especially since it was a case that had been solved by the local authorities, otherwise known as Lamb. To her, it did not make a lot of sense. But that was not her problem. All she needed to worry about was Sean.

With the sounds of a singing Elmo still blaring in her ears, Veronica dug into the last possible drawer that hat could be hidden in. If it was not there, she was going to have to buy him a new hat at one of those overly expensive stores on the boardwalk. She was willing to waste the money, though. Anything to avoid a sunburn on his head that would effectively put a bad spin on the day she had been painstakingly planning for weeks now.

She reached a hand blindly into the drawer and immediately her fingers brushed against a small cardboard box. One that she had almost forgotten was in there. Pulling it out, Veronica sat heavily on the edge of the bed and lifted the lid off. First she pulled out the two plastic ids. One with her own face and the other with Lilly's. She smiled, her fingers stroking the first of many fake ids she had gotten over the past two years. Then she put them back and took out the picture on top. It was the one of homecoming night. She looked at all the smiling faces. They looked so happy then. Lilly, glittering like a goddess in her gold dress, and Veronica, shining innocently in her long pink gown, were flanked by the cheerful Duncan and Logan, in their dark tuxes. It had taken a long time, but she was finally able to look at the picture without wanting to vomit at the thought of her first love being her brother. Or feel the hurt and anger surge through her whenever she saw Logan, with his arms wrapped around Lilly. But it felt like so long ago, so far away, that it barely affected her anymore. It was just old history, a past she had survived and moved on from.

She gently placed the picture back in the box with the ids and pulled out the last photo in the box. Staring at it, she could feel the bed shift behind her. Sean, losing interest in his toys, crawled into her lap and looked at the snapshot in her hand.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing a chubby finger at it.

Veronica shifted him so that he could get a better look at it in the light. "That's your Grandpa," she told him, her own finger running across her father's face.

"G'pa," he attempted to repeat.

"Yup," she confirmed, then she shifted her finger a little to the right. "And that's your grandma. And that's me." His tiny finger began following hers and she repeated who everybody in the photo was, hoping that she was creating some sort of memory so that he could remember people he may not ever meet.

The doorbell rang and both of their attentions were brought back to reality.

"And that would be Tony," she said, setting Sean on the ground and closing the lid on the box to her past. Veronica, putting the long inflatable alligator toy under one arm, picked up their beach bag and then took Sean's hand. She guided him down the stairs, helping him as his short legs climbed down the stairs one step at a time. It took a lot longer than it would have if she carried him, but she always made sure to allow him to practice walking any chance she got.

When she finally opened the door, Tony was standing there with a large wrapped present in his hands. He quirked an eyebrow at all the stuff she had in her hands. "You look like a tourist."

"Hey," she cried in defense, allowing him to grab the large flotation toy. "He's two! Do you know how hard it is to keep a two year old occupied without a wonderbag filled with a never-ending supply of toys?"

He laughed as he led her to his car. "And what does it take to keep the mother occupied?" Veronica blushed, but said nothing.

Forty minutes later, they were standing on a sunny boardwalk. Coney Island was only a ten minute drive away from her apartment, but it took about twice that time to find a parking space on the crowded street. It seemed that August 28th was a popular day to spend at the beach, especially among students who were putting their last few days of freedom, before they had to go back to school, to good use.

Since it was his birthday, they had given Sean the choice to choose where he wanted to go first. He insisted that he wanted to go to the aquarium to see the sharks Tony had promised him were there, but eventually it had gotten too hot for him to walk around between the various exhibits and even the colorful fish did not make his discomfort worth it.

Tony brought them to the Nathan's a little further along the beach, saying that no Coney Island experience was complete without a hot dog and lemonade. They sat in the air-conditioned fast food store and then went back out when Sean was ready. He wanted to ride on one of the kiddy merry-go-round rides, but had gotten too scared at the last minute. When Veronica finally calmed him down, they went to sit on the beach instead. She put him in his life vest and he happily splashed around on the floating alligator with the help of Tony and Veronica. After spending all her life near an ocean in California, she really wanted to teach him how to swim but she figured she would have to wait until he was a little older.

A couple hours later, and after a small scoop of chocolate ice cream that he tried to feed more to the seagulls than he actually ate himself, Sean was down for the count in her lap. She stroked his hair while she listened to a story Tony was telling about a time in junior high when he and his brothers stole his father's car.

"… putting the empty beer cans in the neighbor's mailboxes as we drove by. We were so sure we got away with it. But when we got back, Dad was sitting in a fold-out chair on the driveway."

Veronica laughed, holding Sean to her body with a tighter grip so she would not jiggle him awake. Tony paused to take a sip from his water bottle and they fell into a comfortable silence. In the distance, she could see an older couple setting up a radio on top of their cooler. She listened closely and after a moment was able to recognize the song that was playing.

"I love this song," Tony said from beside her. "I'd say that 'Fire of Unknown Origin' is one of B.O.C.'s greatest." She absently nodded, her eyes still focused on the radio. "You know," he continued, trying to regain her attention. "Blue Oyster Cult was started on Stony Brook's campus. Don't tell my dad, but that's basically why I decided to go there."

She gave him a small smile. "My dad's favorite was 'Don't Fear the Reaper'."

"An instant classic," he acknowledged, grinning appreciatively. She looked down when she felt Sean stir in her arms and slowly rocked him until he settled back down.

"I'd like to meet him." Veronica looked up in confusion. "Your father, I mean," he clarified.

"Um… I… I don't know," she stuttered, feeling the slight panic that she had not experienced in a long time.

Tony looked vaguely hurt. "No, I didn't mean… It's okay. If you don't want…"

Veronica quickly shook her head. "It's not you. It's just… really complicated."

"Oh," he looked down at his hands in his lap. "Is that why you don't talk about them?"

"Who?"

"Chelsea," he sighed, clearly not wanting to let her off the hook. "Your family. You never talk about them. The most I know right now is that your father has a fairly good taste in music."

"Very good taste," she corrected, trying to joke away from the subject. When he just looked at her, she closed her eyes and nervously chewed on her lip. Then, she looked back at him. "When I left Illinois, we had... family issues. That's why I came here. Sean is all the family I have now." Tony watched her for a moment and then nodded, clearly unsatisfied but willing to let it go.

"Mama," a voice called from her lap. They both glanced down and saw Sean struggling to escape Veronica's grip. Looking up at her, he pointed up to the sky. "Want birdy." They watched the seagull fly in the opposite direction, toward the boardwalk.

"Sean, I think that bird's going home," Veronica told him. She glanced down at her watch and then up at Tony, who nodded. "Which we're going to do too."

Her son pouted. "Don't wanna."

She rolled her eyes, but Tony smiled. "Well, it is dinner time. We can go get something to eat. What do you say, little man?" Sean nodded enthusiastically.

Veronica readjusted her grip on him and stood up. "Fine," she conceded. "We can go to the diner." Tony just nodded, knowing exactly which diner she was talking about. She had brought him there enough times. They gathered their things and walked back to the car.

The waitress from the diner had been one of the first people Veronica actually got close to when she moved to New York. She had helped her in many ways, telling her what to expect in her pregnancy and had even watched Sean a few times when he was first born. Her grandson was the first kid around Sean's own age that he befriended. Veronica was extremely grateful to her, and she made sure to at least visit her at the diner a couple times a month.

They walked in and sat at a booth toward the back of the diner. After they ordered, Veronica turned to Tony. "Can you watch him a few minutes? I want to go say hi." Tony, who was helping Sean draw a picture on the paper placemat in front of him, nodded without looking up. It amazed her sometimes how a grown man and two year old could be so entertained by the same things.

Walking to the front of the diner, Veronica exchanged greetings with a few of the familiar waitresses. She was not a hundred percent sure she was placing the right names to the right faces, so she avoided actually calling them by their names. Veronica did not see her friend, so she sat on a stool at the counter to wait. The guy sitting on the stool next to her kept trying to quickly look at her without her noticing. Veronica openly stared at him, figuring it would embarrass him into stopping.

When he caught on, he dropped his gaze. "Sorry," he apologized. "It's just… you look really familiar. Do I know you?"

She studied his face. "I don't think so. Unless you've had any professional portraits done recently."

"Nah," he replied. "I haven't had any pictures taken since they took our graduation photos for the yearbook. But that was way back in September."

She nodded. "Yeah. I don't do school photos, so probably not." She thought about it a minute. "I do come here a lot. Maybe that's where you know me from. Have you been here before?"

He visibly stiffened. "No, I just came out here to see my… girlfriend. She works here."

"Oh. I might know her. What's her name?" Veronica asked.

Before he could answer, another voice cut in.

"Chelsea," she heard Tony say from behind her. He was holding Sean in his arms. "My dad called. He's short-staffed and needs me to come in."

"Okay," Veronica said. "Uh, sorry. I have to go. It was nice meeting you…" she trailed off, realizing he had never told her his name.

"Wallace?" a shocked voice called. They both turned to see Jackie standing near the doorway. She walked closer and then halted, a safe foot away. "What are you doing here?"

"Your father told me the truth," his hollow voice responded.

Jackie stared at him, unshed tears glistening in her eyes. Then she seemed to notice Veronica standing there. "Uh, hey Chelsea," her trembling voice said.

"Hey, Jackie," Veronica replied. She turned to Tony and could see from the way he was uncomfortably shifting that he noticed the obvious tension too. "We're just leaving," she quickly continued. "Could you just tell your mom that I came by to say hi?"

Jackie nodded, and Veronica turned to Tony so they could leave. As they were walking out the door, Veronica could hear Wallace's hurt voice saying, "Why did you lie to me? Why did you not tell me?"

Veronica strapped Sean in the car seat and then Tony pulled away from the curb.

"When did Jackie get back from California?" he asked.

She shrugged. "A few weeks ago."

"I guess she didn't tell that Wallace guy about Greg."

"Probably not," Veronica said, staring out the window.

He shook his head in disbelief. "That's incredible. How could you not tell someone that you have a kid?" Veronica unintentionally stiffened, though Tony did not notice. "That's just messed up. She was basically living a lie for months."

Veronica's eyes trailed to the rearview mirror, where she could see her own son dozing off in his car seat. "Yeah," she whispered.

He looked back at her. "Hey, you wanna come to the pizzeria with me? Keep me company? I'll even give you all the free pizza to your heart's content," he bribed, grinning at her.

"I can't," she responded, forcing a smile. "He's falling asleep. I should bring him home." He nodded and pulled up to her street. They sat in silence for a moment.

"I think Sean had a lot of fun today," he told her. She nodded. "I had a lot of fun too," he said. "We should do it again sometime, before it gets too cold."

"Okay," Veronica agreed. He looked at her and then leaned in close, softly kissing her. She hesitated a moment, just like she did all the other times he kissed her, but then opened her mouth slightly to allow him to deepen the kiss. When she heard Sean moving in the back seat, she broke away.

"It's getting late," she murmured.

"I'll call you tomorrow," he said, though it came out sounding more like a question.

Veronica nodded. "Okay." They got out of the car and he helped her bring her things back to her apartment. After saying goodbye, she closed the door and brought Sean to his room. She settled her sleeping son in his crib and kissed him on the forehead.

Walking back to her room, she paused by her desk and pulled open the top drawer. Lying on top of a bunch of random papers was her last untraceable phone. She picked it up and sat cross-legged on her bed with it in her hand.

Tony was right. Jackie had lived a lie for a couple months. But Veronica had been living a lie for two long years. She was sick of running. Sick of hiding. She missed her father.

She dialed the number into the unused phone and brought it to her ear. It rang a few times, and her heart dropped. If he did not pick up this time, she would probably lose her nerve again and she did not know if she would ever try to call again.

"Hello," a voice said over the line.

Veronica paused, dread creeping up her spine. It was a female's voice. But it was not her mother's voice. Had her family moved while she was gone?

"Hello," the voice repeated, sounding slightly agitated.

"Hi," Veronica finally said. "I'm… um looking for Keith Mars. Is he there?"

There was a pause on the other end of the line. Then a sigh. "Who is this?"

"Family," Veronica responded, getting more confused by the moment. "Can I speak to him now?"

"I'm sorry," the woman responded. "But he's not here."

"Where is he?" Veronica asked, now in a full-blown panic.

"Keith has been in a coma for the past two months."

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A/N: I don't remember if they mentioned Jackie's son's name in the show so I made up my own. Sorry if I'm wrong.

A/N2: Thank you so much to everybody who said they would like for this fic to continue because I really loved this idea and did not want to give up on it. I was so excited by all your comments that I wrote this next chapter right away. This is the chapter I've been looking forward to doing for awhile because this is where you first start to see Neptune really intruding in on Veronica's little world. So next chapter I can finally bring her back home and get to explore what has happened since she left. By the way, if it's not clear, we are now at the beginning of season three.

A/N3: Oh and I know a lot of people had wanted to see Veronica go home so that she could be reunited with Keith, and I'm sooooooooo sorry that has to be delayed. But unfortunately it was necessary for the development of the plot. I'll just have to make up for it in some other way (perhaps with LoVe)

A/N4: Happy Fourth of July!

Please Review :)


	8. Chapter 7

**Title:** Shattered

**Rating:** M

**Summary:** AU… What if Shelley Pomeroy's party had much larger repercussions? Begins pre-series

**Spoilers:** Eventually all 3 seasons

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

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"I don't understand."

Veronica barely looked up from where she was haphazardly tossing clothes into an opened suitcase on her bed. "What's there to not understand?" She unconsciously dumped makeup and hair products into one of the outer pockets until she suddenly paused, with blush and eye shadow in one hand. Was it really appropriate to be worrying about her appearance right now?

"Well, it could be the fact that you're just up and leaving with no warning or indication as to where you're going. I mean, you're seriously not giving me any explanation why I have to look after your apartment when you're not even telling me how long you are going to be gone?" Sarah, Veronica's neighbor, asked. Sarah, who was only a couple years older than her, liked to refer to herself as a 'starving artist.' In reality, she took a couple art classes at the local community college and worked part-time at one of those pottery painting places that hosted children's parties. When Veronica first met her, she thought Sarah was a little too ditzy and tried to avoid her every attempt at inviting Veronica over for some kind of tea that tasted like dirt. After awhile, Veronica realized that Sarah was a lot smarter than she seemed and they became semi-friends. Then Sarah drove Veronica to the hospital when her water broke and that just sealed the relationship.

Veronica sighed and looked up at her friend. There was really no point to hide the truth anymore. "My father's sick. I have to go see him."

"Your father," Sarah repeated, with her eyebrows slightly furrowed. "Okay. That makes sense. Kind of. What's wrong with him?"

"I'm not sure," Veronica answered tightly, despite the painful lump in her throat. "That's why I'm going back."

Sarah nodded. "So you're going home?"

Veronica momentarily froze. From the moment she got off the phone with that woman, she had been lost in a flurry of actions. Between reserving a flight to California, calling Mr. Yu to say that she needed to take time off, and banging on Sarah's door because she needed to borrow a suitcase, Veronica had never had time to allow that fact sink in. She was going home. Back to Neptune.

She swept her hair behind her ear with a shaking hand and nodded the affirmative. Veronica could dwell on that later. Right now she had to finish packing for herself and Sean so that they would be able to make the flight that was going to leave in only four hours.

Sean, who was still asleep, was blissfully unaware of what Veronica was about to drag him back into. She had debated with herself for half the night about actually bringing him, but there was no way she was going to leave him behind. Veronica really did not know how long she was going to be gone and she did not trust anyone enough to leave her son with them for an extended period of time. Especially if she was going to be all the way on the other side of the country and unable to get back to him quickly enough if he needed her.

With the last of her things in the suitcase, she brought it out to the living room and dropped it next to the bag she had already packed for Sean. She walked over to the tiny kitchen area and pulled a box of cereal off the top of the refrigerator. Pouring some cheerios into a zip-lock bag, she left it on top of Sean's bag so that he would be able to have something to eat on the way to the airport.

Sarah, who had quietly followed her from the bedroom, crossed her arms over her chest. "What about Tony?" Veronica ignored her and walked to Sean's room. He was lying on his stomach in his crib, with his thumb in his mouth and the other arm wrapped tightly around his plush rabbit.

Feeling Sarah's presence behind her, Veronica instead leaned over and turned on the lamp on the table beside the crib.

"Time to wake up," she said as she rubbed his small back, trying to gently wake him at a time that was much earlier than she usually did. When she felt him stir under her hand, she picked him up and brought him to the dresser where his clothes for the day were waiting. She could feel him rubbing his face against her shoulder, something he often did when he was tired.

Sarah moved out of her way, but was still waiting expectantly. When Veronica began changing Sean, she must have realized that she had no intention of answering. "Well?" she impatiently asked. "Have you told him you're leaving?"

"I haven't had the time," Veronica mumbled while she tried to get the shirt over her uncooperative son's head. He was tired and cranky so he probably decided that he was going to make the process as difficult as possible for her.

"Chelsea, you have to at least call him," Sarah chastised. "You know he's going to eventually show up here and I don't want to have to be the one to tell the poor guy that his girlfriend left without even informing him."

"I'm not his girlfriend," Veronica quickly corrected, finally getting Sean completely changed and moving onto putting on his shoes. "Besides, I'll be back and I can just explain things then." She had gotten her son's shoe on his foot, but he kicked it off before she could lace it up.

Sarah sighed and handed her the discarded footwear. "If your dad's sick…"

"I'll call him later," Veronica promised, needing to get out of the conversation fast. She was not ready to discuss her father until she saw him for herself. She picked up her son, who was making slight whining sounds next to her. The kind of sounds that could soon progress into a full-blown crying tantrum. "It's alright," she said in the most soothing tone she could muster. "You can go back to sleep real soon."

Sarah stared at her, the look on her face telling Veronica that she knew she was probably lying. "Fine," she conceded, pulling her car keys out of her pocket. "Let's go."

"Oh," Veronica started, "I can drive myself."

Sarah shook her head. "No, then you'll have to leave your car there for god knows how long and it will just be too much of a hassle. I can take you." Veronica figured it would probably be best to just give in, so they went to get the bags and then went down to Sarah's car.

The drive was, for the most part, in silence. Sean had fallen back asleep the moment he was buckled into his car seat and Veronica was trapped in her own thoughts. She was plagued by constant guilt and fear. All she really did know was that her father was in a coma. The woman, who did mention her name but at a point where Veronica was too wrapped up in her own shock and was not listening, was very vague about the cause.

"Chelsea?" Sarah's voice questioned from beside her. Veronica looked up and realized that the car was sitting outside the airport. From Sarah's tone, they may have been there for some time.

"Yeah, okay." Veronica closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, trying to suppress the panic that was twisting at her stomach. She looked over at Sarah and tried to smile at her, but failed.

Sarah gave a small smile of understanding. "So, I guess I'll be seeing you then," she offered as a goodbye.

Veronica nodded, "Yeah." They sat for a moment. Veronica knew she was being a coward. She had to make that flight. Had to go see her father. But getting on this plane right now would effectively destroy everything she worked for over the past two years.

Sarah reached over and gave Veronica's hand a quick squeeze of reassurance. Veronica managed more of a smile for this time and then got out of the car. She took Sean out of the car seat and unstrapped it from the car, taking it with her on the plane. It was a bit of struggle, carrying her son, the car seat, and two bags, but she managed through check-in and security.

Once she was on the plane, Sean woke up and was munching on the cheerios. She was a little nervous about how he would react at lift-off, considering this was his first time on a plane, but she had pointed out the window when the plane started moving and he just happily watched the passing scenery as they took off into the air.

During the six hour flight, Veronica divided her time between keeping her very active two year old occupied and watching the extremely awful movie they were playing. After the flight attendants came around to collect the trays from the half frozen lunches they provided, Sean took a nap and Veronica stared at the phone attached to the back of the seat in front of her.

Sarah was right. She should call Tony. But every time she reached for the phone, she would immediately retract it before she could pull it out if its cradle. He did deserve to know she was not in the state anymore. But then she would have to tell him about her father and he would have wanted to know everything. She did not even know everything in order to tell him. He may have even suggested coming with her, something she knew she could not handle.

Tony could not come with her, and that did not even have anything to do with the conflicting emotions she had for him. The life she used to have in Neptune and the one she made for herself in New York were two completely separate entities. One was her past and the other was her present, could even possibly continue into becoming her future. There could not be any overlapping. Tony coming with her to Neptune was definite overlapping.

Plus there was the whole thing where he would discover that she had been lying to him the entire time he had known her.

Veronica sighed and sagged against the curve of her chair. Yesterday had been such a good day. Things had been so simple. How could it all have gone to hell in such a short amount of time?

Then she grew disgusted with herself, realizing she was feeling bad for herself when her father had been lying in a coma for two months without her by his side. Without anyone by his side if the lack of mention of her mother during the phone call with that woman suggested anything.

The pilot announced that they were going to be landing momentarily and Veronica lifted the shade on the window so that Sean could once again look out. She looked at all the tiny buildings that she could not clearly make out from this distance and then instead focused on the strips of beaches that she could see. Everything got larger as the plane got closer and Veronica placed a hand on her son just in case as they made their bumpy landing.

Dragging all her stuff off the plane was just as difficult as getting it on and she breathed a sigh of relief when they moved into the much wider space of the airport. Veronica stood there for a moment, holding Sean's hand so that he would be out of the way of all the passing people. She realized she had no idea where she was going to go. She knew she wanted to go to the hospital, but she felt like there was somewhere else she had to be first.

Veronica came to the resolution as she picked up the car she had reserved. She drove out of the airport's parking lot and then down the very familiar streets until she was sitting outside her old apartment building.

"Welcome home," she mumbled, unstrapping her seatbelt and turning in her seat. "You ready?" she asked Sean, using the overly excited voice that always made him smile.

"Yeah," he answered, reaching out his arms like he usually did when he wanted out of his seat.

Veronica got out and opened the back door so she could release him. "Well, I'm not," she answered, letting him to the ground and grabbing a hold of his hand. They walked carefully up the stairs until they were standing outside the front door. Reaching into her pocket, Veronica pulled out the key she had kept with her since the day she ran away.

It fit into the lock, and she was momentarily happy that no one had changed the locks while she was gone. But then that quickly dissipated when she realized she had no idea what she would find in there.

Opening the door, she took one step inside before she automatically came back out, quickly pulling Sean up into her arms. A madly barking mass of brown fur came bounding at her.

"Down, Backup," she yelled and he immediately sat down at her feet.

"Shhh, it's alright," she tried to sooth her crying son as she slowly extended her arm so that Backup could sniff her hand. It took a moment, but it was almost like she could see the recognition dawning on the dog because his tail began to slowly wag. Then it became a furious wagging as he turned onto his back with his belly up, waiting for her to pet him.

She laughed. "I guess you do recognize me, huh boy?" Sean quieted as he watched her scruff the dog's stomach.

"Do you want to pet him?" she asked.

He stared at the dog with wide eyes for a moment then nodded. She let him down to the ground and he leaned over to give him long gentle strokes on his back. The dog began licking his leg and Sean giggled. "Hi doggy," he greeted.

Veronica smiled. "His name is Backup."

"Backup," Sean repeated, settling onto the floor to play. Backup turned onto his stomach and started licking Sean on the face. Veronica got momentarily nervous while he began licking closer to Sean's mouth, remembering what other regions of his own body he used to lick.

"Alright," she said, taking her son's hand. "You can play with him later."

"Wanna play now," he informed her, wrapping his other small hand around the dog's collar.

"Don't choke him," she automatically warned, remembering the hundreds of times her father used to say the same thing when she was little and played with the dogs at the station. He immediately complied and she led him further into the apartment, the dog at their heels.

The apartment looked exactly the same as when she left it, if only slightly messier. And a lot emptier. She knew her father would not be here, but she had held onto the ridiculous desire that at least her mother would be there.

From where she was standing, she could see the closed door of her former bedroom. But Veronica did not feel like going on a tour right now to see what had changed. She needed to see her father.

Dumping her bags on the couch, she turned and led Sean back to the door. He mildly protested leaving the dog, so she simply picked him up again. Backup stopped when they reached the doorway and sat down, looking up at them.

"We're going to come back later. Say bye-bye," she told her son.

Sean leaned down so he could wave in the dogs face. "Bye-bye Backup." The dog wagged his tail as he leaned up to lick Sean's hand. Veronica gave the dog one last pet herself and then locked the apartment back up.

They got back in the car and Veronica drove to the hospital. Her heart was pounding as she walked through the sliding doors. She could see Sean crinkle his nose as the smell of antiseptic hit them, but she merely gripped him tighter and walked to the main desk. They directed her to the Neuro ICU on the fourth floor.

The elevator ride by itself was painful, but by the time she was walking to the nurse's station she was engulfed in panic and dread. Her throat was so constricted that she was not sure she would even be able to talk.

The nurse looked up as she walked up to her desk. "May I help you?"

"I'm looking for Keith Mars," she managed to choke out.

"And who are you?" the nurse asked, looking from her to Sean and then back to her again.

"I'm his daughter."

She saw the nurse's eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "Oh, I didn't know… He's in room 253." Veronica nodded her thanks and began to walk in the direction that the nurse pointed.

"Veronica," a voice called from behind her. She felt herself freeze in shock. It had been so long since she heard someone actually say her real name. Slowly she turned and found herself face to face with a woman she did not recognize.

"Veronica?" the woman repeated, looking almost as stunned as Veronica felt. "Are you really Veronica?"

"I'm sorry," Veronica said, staring at the woman in confusion. "Do I know you?"

The woman smiled slightly, but shook her head. "No, you don't. Though, I think we did speak on the phone. I'm Alicia. I'm a friend of your father."

"Do you know what happened to my father?" Veronica quickly asked.

Alicia looked away for a moment and Veronica could have sworn she saw tears brimming in her eyes. "He was attacked at his office. When they found him… he suffered massive head trauma. There was swelling in his brain and he had surgery, but… he hasn't woken up yet."

Veronica could feel tears in her own eyes. "Who? Who did this to him?"

"We don't know," Alicia answered, shaking her head. "The police were investigating, but there were no leads."

"I want to see him," Veronica said.

Alicia nodded and was about to say something, but another voice interrupted them.

"Mama," Sean called, tugging on the denim of her jeans.

Veronica leaned down, "What's wrong, baby?"

"Hungry," he told her.

"You have a son?" Alicia asked, her astounded face showing that she had not noticed him standing there before.

"Uhh… Yeah," Veronica murmured, her heart sinking as she thought that the first person who should have found out was her father, not this stranger.

Surprisingly, Alicia recovered quickly. "I could take him to the cafeteria while you visit your father.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Veronica said, gripping her son's hand more tightly to try and slow down her racing heart. She would not leave her son alone with someone she did not know.

Alicia smiled, as if to tell her that she did not take offense to her obvious mistrust. "I could just take him to the vending machine over there," she said, pointing to an area clearly visible across the hall. "I have two boys of my own. I know how picky they are at that age."

Veronica stared at the woman, trying to gauge how much she could trust her. She did not even know for sure if she really was a friend of her father's. Though, she could not think of a reason why she would lie about that. Reluctantly, Veronica nodded.

Alicia kneeled in front of him. "Hi, what's your name?"

"Sean," he answered, though he did step slightly behind Veronica's legs.

"My name is Alicia," she said smiling. "Do you want to come get something to eat with me?"

Sean looked up at Veronica and when she nodded her permission, he took Alicia's hand. Veronica watched as they walked to the vending machine. Then she turned toward the door of her father's room.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly pushed open the door. He was lying on the bed in the middle of the room, surrounded by beeping machines and tubes. Veronica walked closer and gazed down at his pale face. He looked much older than when she last saw him.

She fell into the chair next to his bed and reached for his hand.

"Daddy," she whispered, feeling the tears streaming down her face. She did not expect a response, but it still hurt when he did not even react to the sound of her voice.

She held onto his hand, ignoring the feeling of the needle taped to his skin. All she wanted was for him to open his eyes. For him to talk to her.

"I'm so sorry," she sobbed. "For everything. I should have been here. I love you. Please come back to me. I need you."

His hand just hung limply in her own.

She took a deep breath and tried to control her tears. Slowly, she brushed her free hand down the side of his face. "I'm sorry, Daddy," she repeated, feeling that if he could hear her right now, then that is what he needed to know.

"And I will find out who did this to you."

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A/N: Thank you for everybody who is reading and reviewing. I'm thrilled you are all enjoying this story. I'm really excited because now we are back and things are finally unfolding. The next chapter is when we finally start getting a look at everybody we left behind. I want to get the next chapter up soon so please continue reviewing. It's really encouraging.

A/N2: I'm slightly frustrated because I recently got two great ideas for stories, but they are both too complex to be just one-shots (and they are both futurefics, which I love). I REALLY want to write them but I already have two stories going at once, which is kind of a difficult undertaking for me because sometimes I feel like I'm concentrating too much on one and the writing in the other suffers. So I've decided I'm going to devote more time to both stories so that I can get them done to my satisfaction and then start new ones, which I'm excited about. Though, I don't think that will happen for awhile.

LOL. Sorry, I ramble.

Please Review :)


	9. Chapter 8

**Title:** Shattered

**Rating:** M

**Summary:** AU… What if Shelley Pomeroy's party had much larger repercussions? Begins pre-series

**Spoilers:** Eventually all 3 seasons

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

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Veronica sat in her rented car, with her son in the back and Alicia in the seat next to her. Apparently, Alicia's car had been in a slight accident yesterday and so she had taken the bus to the hospital. She would have taken the bus back too, but Veronica, who was not yet willing to lose the only person who could answer her questions, had offered to give her a ride back to the body shop to get her car.

Taking a deep breath, Veronica glanced at Alicia and saw her looking out the window. "Do you…," she halted, suddenly unsure if she really did want to know the answer. "Do you know where my mother is?"

Alicia quickly raised her head, but the expression on her face showed that she was not surprised by Veronica's question. "I don't," she answered apologetically, though Veronica did not know why she felt she had to apologize. "She had left long before I met Keith."

Veronica nodded, rapidly blinking to fend off the tears. She did not know why she was so upset. She always knew that her mother would take off first chance she got, even though Veronica had tried to fool herself into thinking she would stick around when Veronica was gone. That maybe her mother would try and help her father find her. A part of her, the same part that had always thought it was a mistake to leave Neptune, had hoped that both of her parents would find her and bring her home. That they would protect her from the harsh world she had thrown herself headfirst into. But in reality, her mother had not even tried to locate Veronica in all this time

"How did you meet my dad?" Veronica asked.

Alicia sighed, unconsciously playing with the gold charm around her neck. "Earlier this year, my son ran away. I had no idea where he went and so I hired your dad to find him."

Veronica tightened her grip on the wheel. "And you, what, bonded over your missing kids?" Alicia had not outright said it, but Veronica could tell that she had been dating her father. It did not feel right, knowing that her father had been with someone other than her mother.

"You could say that," Alicia said, carefully broaching the subject. "Keith could relate to my situation."

Veronica paused. She reminded herself that she had been gone for almost three years. He had been all alone this time. It was only natural that he would not want to be lonely anymore. Besides, her mother had been having an affair for like twenty years. Was it so awful that he found someone else also? "Did he help you? With your son?"

Alicia nodded, "Yes, we found my son."

Veronica could feel her heart break as she realized what that must have done to her father. How it must have hurt, knowing he could find someone else's child, but not his own.

They both were silent for a moment. Then she heard Alicia uncomfortably clear her throat.

"Was Sean… was he the reason you left?"

Veronica glanced at Sean in the rearview mirror, but he was obliviously drawing in a coloring book she had handed to him at the hospital. She remained quiet, instead concentrating on the road so that she could control the panic growing in her chest. Veronica was not ready to answer that yet.

Alicia silently stared at her, waiting for a response. When she realized she was not getting one, she sighed. "When I was pregnant with my oldest son, I ran away too." Veronica turned and looked at her in shock. Alicia nodded with a small smile. "I was older than you were, but I was scared. It was terrifying, starting over somewhere new. With a new name, a new identity."

Veronica opened her mouth, but then started chewing on her lower. She was sure this was the moment that she was supposed to bond with her father's girlfriend and open up about the past three years, but Veronica had not confided in anyone in a very long time and she did not want to start again now.

"How was he?" she asked instead. "My dad. While I was…" Veronica trailed off, unsure of how to ask what she wanted to know.

"He missed you," Alicia answered honestly. She was probably going to say something else, but suddenly the car was filled with the sounds of what Veronica recognized to be one of the 70's disco songs that she used to hear when her mother played the radio in the car. "Sorry," she said, pulling a cell out of her purse. "That's my phone."

Alicia placed the phone to her ear. "Hello… What's wrong, honey?... No… No, you did not… I'm sure… Yes, I am sure…Alright, how many do you need?... Okay, but I'm going to be a little late. I have to pick up the car and then go get them…. Fine, I'll try…. Okay, bye."

She hung up and placed the phone back in her bag. "Sorry, that was Darryl."

"Your son?" Veronica asked.

"Yes, my youngest," Alicia responded, smiling. "He has a soccer game at five and he was supposed to bring the drinks. But he forgot to tell me until now. I'm going to have to go to the grocery store once I pick up my car."

Veronica thought it about a minute. "We can go now, if you want. I doubt there is any food in the apartment and I should probably stock up now."

"You're staying at your father's apartment?" Alicia asked, sounding slightly surprised. Veronica nodded, her brow crinkling in confusion. Where else would she be staying?

"Yeah, sure," Alicia agreed. "We can go now. That would save me a trip."

Veronica drove to the supermarket. But when they tried to get out of the car, Sean, who did not want to leave his coloring books, threw a fit.

After a minute of struggling, Veronica allowed him to go back in the car, where he curled up on the seat with his crayons.

"Sorry," she apologized to Alicia."He had to get up early this morning and he has been cranky all day."

Alicia nodded in understanding. "They get like that sometimes. If you want, I can wait with him while you get your food. I can get my drinks later."

"I can get them for you," Veronica said. She was slightly more trusting of this woman considering that she had been able to watch Sean at the hospital without incident. "How many do you need?"

"Umm…" Alicia thought about it. "I think two cartons of Hawaiian Punch should do it."

Veronica nodded. She gave her son a quick kiss on the forehead and then walked into the store. Pulling a cart out of a corner in front of the store's entrance, she began shopping for the various food things that she and Sean would need. In her mind, though, Veronica was cataloguing all the broken tidbits of information that she knew about this life she had left behind. At least, she was attempting to catalogue. She knew virtually nothing about what had happened in the past three years and it was not comforting. Neptune, the town she had grown up in, was now foreign territory. Veronica did not know what to expect, and she hated it. It was like she was walking into shark infested waters with a blindfold on.

She found the display case with Hawaiian Punch in the back of the refrigerated section. Unfortunately, for her at least, it was on the top shelf and just outside her reach. Standing on her tiptoes, she tried to pull it down. But, of course, it was pushed back as far as possible on the shelf. Finally, frustrated to the point that she felt like she was going to scream, Veronica just jumped up and whacked at the juice. Two containers fell to the ground and that was by far the only good thing that happened to her all day.

Fuming to herself about the supermarket's prejudice against short people, she barely noticed as another hand reached out and picked up the juice carton that was not already in her hand.

"Here," the voice said as it handed it to her. Righting herself from her kneeling position, she was about to thank the good Samaritan. But then she saw the face and her stomach dropped.

"Veronica?" The look on his face might have been comical if she had not felt like she was on the verge of a panic attack.

She knew there was 'a deer caught in the headlights' look on her own face, but she quickly reigned control over her features and made sure her face did not betray the anxiety she was feeling.

"Logan," she said in response, her voice carefully void of all emotion.

His scrutinizing stare moved up and down her body. She stiffened so that she would not squirm in discomfort under his gaze. He looked older, more mature, but she could tell he was still Logan. Veronica knew that she looked nothing like her old self. Her hair was much shorter, though it was not as short as it had been when she first ran away from home. And she had not bought a single piece of pink clothing since then either.

"You're back," he observed, though he was still gaping. It seemed to be taking him awhile to come to terms with what he was seeing.

"So it would seem," she responded, quickly grabbing the juice out of his hand and shoving it in her cart. She pushed her cart, trying to get away from this nightmare as fast as possible.

He quickly followed, walking up to the side of the cart so that she was forced to acknowledge his presence. "Why?" When Veronica kept on walking without answering, he continued anyway. "Are you back to go to Hearst?"

"Hearst?" Veronica questioned, throwing frozen hot dogs into her cart.

"Yeah, Hearst. You know, college? The place for higher education and non-stop parties? Ringing any bells?" Veronica just stared at him. She had forgotten that every other person her age was going to be starting college in a few weeks.

"None of your business," she muttered, turning the cart down another aisle. It was not exactly the cleverest thing she could come up with, but things were starting to become too real. Logan Echolls, the privileged jackass who probably had not actually done his own homework in his whole high school career, was going to college and she was not. She tried not to dwell on how unfair that was.

Logan chuckled. "I'm guessing you didn't miss me."

"Don't worry. While I was away, I used to clip your pictures out of the tabloids. I even have this great one of you paying homeless men to fight. I keep that one under my pillow at night," Veronica replied, the sarcasm unintentionally coming out.

Logan walked in front of her cart. With a frustrated groan, she looked up at him and was momentarily shocked by the solemn sincerity on his face. "At school, there was a rumor… we thought you were dead," he quietly told her.

"Thought or hoped?" Veronica scoffed, fighting to keep up her appearance of nonchalance.

In a second, the dumbfounded expression he had been wearing since he saw her was gone. She saw a flash of hurt before that antagonistic spark was back in his eyes.

He smiled cruelly down at her. "So, what? Your mom got sick of you sleeping with all the hicks at the trailer park and she sent you back here? It must have been pretty bad if even an alcoholic slut can't stand to be around you anymore."

Veronica slammed her cart forward, right into his hip. He hissed and backed up, one hand holding onto his side. "Glad to see that the years haven't diminished your ability to be a prick," she spat at him. He glared at her and she rolled her cart away.

She brought the cart to the cash register and paid for her groceries. Back in the car, Alicia must have sensed her foul change in mood because the ride to the body shop was, for the most part, silent.

When she parked in front, Alicia turned to her. "Here," she said, handing Veronica a piece of paper. "If you need anything, just give me a call." Veronica managed a tiny smile and a 'thank you'. Alicia got out of the car and walked into the shop.

Veronica glanced at the backseat and saw that Sean was falling asleep. She wanted to get him back to the apartment, but there was one place left where she needed to go today. Turning the car around, she drove to Mars Investigations. Once there, she stared up at the familiar sign and sadly smiled.

Veronica got out of the car and pulled her sleeping son out of his seat. She held him tightly in her arms as she walked up the stairs. The door to the office was locked, so she walked to the window and pulled on a wooden panel below it that she knew hid a key. Taking the key, she unlocked the door and slowly pushed it open.

The office, like her old apartment, looked almost exactly like she remembered it. Though, the office did have a new couch and a few pictures on the walls that she did not recognize. Veronica gently placed Sean on the couch. He did not stir, even as she ran her fingers through his short blonde hair.

Then, after taking a deep breath, she stepped into her father's office. It had not been cleaned since the night he was attacked. Papers were everywhere and there were remnants of a chair littering the floor. What caught Veronica's attention was her father's open safe in the corner of the room.

Veronica kneeled in front of it, opening the small door even further. There were a couple thick files inside. She pulled out the first one and it took a moment before she realized that the file was on her. Her father had been able to track her all the way until North Carolina before he lost her.

Placing it back, she pulled out the next file. She opened it and she felt the lump beginning to form in her throat again when she saw the picture of Lilly, with the blood on her forehead, blankly staring out toward the pool. She quickly flipped through it. Apparently her father had been investigating the case the whole time she had been gone.

Veronica placed the file in her bag and reached her hand one more time into the safe. But all her hand hit was empty space.

There was a file that was missing.

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A/N: Sorry, I meant to have this chapter up earlier but I've been really busy. And it's been a couple days since I worked on it, so I think this chapter may be a bit choppier. I'll try to do the next chapter sooner so that it flows better.

A/N2: I know there was some confusion as to where exactly on the timeline we are right now. Chapter 6 was August 28th, Sean's birthday, so this chapter is August 29th. We are in late August so I'd say that we are like maybe a week away from the beginning of Season Three. I've been trying to carefully time out everything so I hope I'm right.

A/N3: So I don't know if there will be any concern about the LoVeiness of this story, but after this chapter there might be. I know I haven't really been delivering on the LoVe in either of my stories, and if you are a _Fire of Life_ reader then I'm going to be addressing that in the story's next chapter. This story is LoVe, but there will be tension before we have love LoVe. Just imagine there relationship in season one, but placed in season three. A lot has happened in the past three years and that will sort of shape how the relationship is going to happen.

Please Review :)


	10. Chapter 9

**Title:** Shattered

**Rating:** M

**Summary:** AU… What if Shelley Pomeroy's party had much larger repercussions? Begins pre-series

**Spoilers:** Eventually all 3 seasons

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

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Veronica groaned as she opened her eyes and stared into the darkness of her bedroom, finally giving up any hope of getting to sleep that night. It had been four days since she arrived back in Neptune. In that short time, she had somehow fallen into a daily routine that revolved for the most part around avoiding as many as people as possible. Veronica would spend her mornings visiting her father, when she knew that Alicia was at work, and then she spent the hours Alicia usually visited the hospital at a park across town with Sean. And whenever she needed to get food or any other supplies, she made sure to go to stores far from the '09er area.

She was being a coward. There was no point in denying it. But during her confrontation with Logan in the supermarket, Veronica felt a resurgence of all the pain, anxiety, and fear that had plagued her in high school. She once again was that sixteen year old girl who had been used as a scapegoat by all her former friends. The girl who hid in the bathroom because she was afraid of what they would do to her next.

But Veronica was NOT that girl anymore. She was nineteen, a legal adult, and a mother. For two and a half years, she had managed to hold a steady job and raise her son all by herself. Sure, taking portraits for a store in a mall was not exactly a life-fulfilling occupation and then there was the fact that she would never accomplish any of things that she had envisioned for her life because she is a high school dropout. But, still, that was more than what most kids her age had done. She had been taking care of her responsibilities while most high schoolers just partied and hung out with their friends.

Veronica felt the bed slightly shift next to her and she looked down to see her son snuggle into her side. When she had settled into the apartment that first night, she realized how unprepared she was to bring Sean here. In her haste to see her father, she had forgotten that she would need things like a stroller or a crib. But Veronica merely solved the crib problem by placing Sean in the bed with her, his tiny body lying in the space between her and the wall. She usually did not let him sleep in the bed with her, after reading in an article that children developed independence better this way. But after spending days watching her father lying so still in a hospital bed, Veronica realized that it was comforting to have the only other family she had left in the world so near to her. Where, when she could not sleep, she could feel his little chest rise and fall with each breath and she could assure herself that he was safe.

Most of her insomnia, though, was due to the uneasy feeling that had settled in her chest after that night she visited her father's office. She knew that she had to go see it for herself, but it was still extremely unsettling to know that she was standing in the spot where her father was attacked. Where someone had savagely beaten him and put him into a coma. And the worst part was that she did not know the who or the why. It was like those months after Lilly died all over again. Not knowing what had happened to someone she loved was the worst feeling Veronica had ever experienced, and now she was feeling it for the second time in her short life.

Keith Mars had a lot of enemies, especially among the rich and powerful of Neptune. And Veronica was sure that the number of his enemies had probably drastically increased during her absence, especially with his career as a P.I. But the name that kept coming to the forefront of her mind was Jake Kane, the man who may be her biological father. Veronica knew that he had been threatening her family before she ran away, maybe he had finally followed through and made good on those threats.

Or, maybe he had discovered that her father had continued his investigation of Lilly's murder. Veronica had read through the file when she had gotten back to the apartment that first night. By the time she reached the last page, her eyes were swimming and her hands were trembling so hard that she could barely read the papers in front of her. Her father thought Duncan killed Lilly.

Duncan, according to her father's research, had type four epilepsy. This meant that he experienced uncontrollable hysterical violent emotional fits and complete blackouts that could cause a loss of memory. There was a copy of a report that her father had written on the night Lilly died that said the Kanes had been doing the wash when he arrived. Keith thought that all this time Jake Kane had been covering for Duncan, who actually killed Lilly in an epileptic fit. He even found out about a hooker who had apparently been with Abel Koontz when Lilly died, but his notes said that he had had trouble tracking her down.

Veronica did not know whether to cry or throw up. Her ex-boyfriend and maybe half-brother might have been the one who killed his sister and her best friend. Not that anyone would ever know. Abel Koontz died in prison last year, before there was even a chance for him to be executed, and this meant that for everyone else Lilly's murder was avenged. Could Jake Kane have put her father in a coma to ensure that no one would ever find out the truth?

But then he would not have left Lilly's file behind. Whatever was in that other missing file was apparently worth her father's life. Veronica had gone back to his office the next day and searched for any references to what could possibly have been in that file. There was nothing. She could not even figure out what case her father had been working on around the time he was attacked.

When the first rays of sunlight began to shine through the slits of her blinds, Veronica was finally given a reprieve from her torturous thoughts and was able to instead occupy her mind with the tasks of getting ready for the day. She was making coffee and watching the morning news when she happened to notice her cell lying on top of the counter. Picking it up, she glanced down and saw that she had a new text message. It was from Tony. All it said was "Call me when you can."

Veronica guiltily scrolled through her phonebook and hesitated with her finger hovering over the call button. She had meant to call him a couple days ago, but she had been so occupied with her father that she had forgotten. Sighing, she pressed the button and raised the phone to her ear.

It only rang twice before she heard a mumbled "hello" on the other end of the line. Veronica glanced up at the kitchen clock and realized it was still early in the morning, even in New York.

"Hey," she tentatively greeted.

"Chelsea?" he asked, sounding more alert.

"Uh huh," she responded, sitting down on the couch with her coffee. "Sorry, I was going to call you before, but things have been…"

"Yeah, I heard. Sarah told me. How's your dad?"

Veronica fought to hold back her groan. Sarah was going to kill her when she got home. "Not good. He's… in a coma."

Tony was momentarily silent. "A coma?" he repeated, sounding shocked. "Jesus, Chelsea. I'm sorry. How?"

"He…" Veronica rubbed her eyes, trying to think. How much was she going to tell him? She could not help but feel guilty, thinking about how most of the things she had told him about herself were lies. Maybe, just this once, she could tell him the truth. Or as much of the truth as she possibly could. "He was attacked two months ago. He has been in a coma ever since."

"Chels, I don't…" he paused, "I don't know what to say. I'm sorry. Do you need anything?"

"No, I'm alright," she assured him. "I just need to be with him right now. I should have told you before I left."

"I understand," he quickly told her. "It's alright. It's just… You know that you could call me if you need me. If you need someone to talk to or... anything."

Veronica closed her eyes, trying to think of how to respond. She knew Tony liked her. Really liked her. Sarah had told her only a few months ago that she thought he loved her. Veronica had quickly denied it and changed the subject, but the thought had been nagging her ever since. She knew that with the way things were headed, there was a possibility that Tony might confess that he loved her. That he might want more than this semi-relationship that they had been skirting around for two years.

But, even after all this time, Veronica had no idea how she felt about Tony. She liked him, of course, but could she love him? She was not sure if she could love anyone like that anymore.

"I know," she quietly responded.

They were both silent for a moment. "How's Sean?" he asked.

"Good," she said, smiling slightly. "He's too young to understand what's going on. He just likes that he now has a dog to play with."

Tony chuckled. "He must be thrilled."

"I'm pretty sure he's going to be begging me for a puppy for years after this." Veronica smiled, thinking about how when she left the bedroom, Backup was curled up next to Sean on the bed.

"Are you going to get him one?" he asked.

"There is a strict no pets policy in my building," she informed him with a sigh. It was one of the things she hated most about her apartment. She never could have replaced Backup, but it would have been nice to have a dog around again. It would have reminded her of home.

"Why don't you…" Tony started, but then paused. A second later, he said, "Chels, someone's at the door. Can I call you back later?"

Veronica nodded. "Yeah, sure. That's fine."

"Okay," he said. "I'll talk to you later."

"Alright, bye," she responded and they both hung up.

Veronica sighed. Well, at least she called him. That was one thing she could cross off her to do list. Now there was something else she had to. She showered and got dressed before she woke Sean. Then she fed him and got him dressed for the day.

They went to the hospital and Veronica spent a few with her father, like she had done for the past couple of days. By now the nurses all knew her name. Apparently they were all amazed that Keith had a daughter, considering he had been there for two months and no child had visited him. Veronica could not help but feel like a terrible daughter every time one of the nurses looked at her.

In the afternoon, giving herself a twenty minute head-start before Alicia usually showed up at the hospital, Veronica left and drove across town. Climbing out of the car, she pulled Sean out of his seat and set him on the ground.

"This should be fun," she murmured to her son as she took his hand and led him up the stairs to the dingy office building. As she walked to what she remembered to be the correct office, the door opened and a woman in a purple sparkly halter, cut off daisy duke shorts, and six inch heels sauntered out. Veronica pulled her son closer and watched the woman walk past in amusement. Then she walked through the open door.

The man at the desk looked up as she approached, but the cheesy smile on his face turned into an expression of amazement as he recognized her. "Veronica?"

"Cliff," she responded. She picked Sean up and placed him in the chair in front of Cliff's desk, then she sat in the seat next to him. "I see business is still booming."

"Well Ms. Candy, the woman you passed in the hall, has just hired me because her landlord is unfairly evicting her for supposed lude acts she had committed in the building's laundry room," Cliff told her, his gaze never wavering from where Sean was playing with a paperweight on his desk.

"All untrue though, right?" Veronica asked with a smirk.

"Of course," Cliff responded, finally meeting Veronica's eyes. "Ms. Candy is a fine upstanding citizen of Neptune, even if she does happen to work nights at **Lady Allure**."

Veronica sighed. "What is the world coming to when a stripper can't do a little overtime without getting evicted?"

"That's what I'm here for, V. To right the world of its wrongs," Cliff told her with a smile. Then his demeanor suddenly changed as he looked at her seriously. "Now, is this a social call or do you need to hire yourself an attorney?"

"I want to talk to you about my dad," she said, putting a hand on Sean to stop him from crawling onto the floor.

Cliff watched, nodding in understanding. "I thought so. I'm guessing that's why you're back. How did you find out?"

"Alicia told me," she responded. The way he nodded told her he knew who she was talking about. "I went to his office and there were some papers missing. I was hoping you could tell me what case he had been working on before he was attacked."

Cliff shook his head. "I really don't know, Veronica," he said apologetically. "I haven't worked with your father in awhile. The last thing I heard was that he was still searching for you."

Veronica shifted in her seat. "I saw the file," she replied quietly.

"He had never given up looking for you. Or trying to find out why you left." Cliff looked meaningfully at Sean.

"There were many reasons why I left," she said defensively. Veronica did not want anyone to think that she left because she was ashamed of her son. She never wanted Sean to think that.

"Where have you been?" Cliff asked.

Veronica looked down and sighed. "New York," she answered.

He raised an eyebrow, but just nodded. "He knew you headed east, but I don't think he realized you had gone all the way to New York. You did a good job covering your tracks. The work of a true P.I."

"Was he really worried?" Her father had known Cliff since he first became Sheriff of Neptune. Though, at that time, they spent most of their time at opposite ends of an interrogation table, they had still become friends and usually helped each other out when they could.

"He thought the worst when they found your car abandoned on the side of the highway," Cliff told her honestly. "But then he found witnesses who saw a girl matching your description in Texas and he tried to follow you from there." He paused, leaning back in his chair. "Lamb refused to help since your note clearly showed that you ran away, so Keith had to search by himself. When he lost your trail…"

Veronica could feel tears brimming in her eyes but she refused to let them fall. "I didn't mean to hurt him."

Cliff looked at her, but his eyes were not judging. He was being kinder than she probably deserved. "Keith took it hard. He threw himself into the job, no matter how risky. I tried to tell him, but he was always too stubborn."

"So you do think it could have been someone from one of his cases who did this to him?" she asked, her hands fidgeting nervously in her lap.

Cliff nodded. "Probably. He was always putting himself in dangerous positions."

Veronica had figured he had done that before she even came to visit Cliff. She remembered how she had thrown herself into the detective work when she was trying to escape her thoughts about Lilly and her pregnancy. That was a trait she had probably acquired from her father, the habit of using outlets, like investigating, to avoid things that they were not ready to deal with yet. Her heart plummeted as she wondered if her father had worked so hard to solve Lilly's murder because he thought it would bring her home. That now he was lying in that coma because of her.

Sean, who was probably sick of being ignored, climbed up and stood on the chair. Veronica reached over, trying to sit him back down. "Who you?" he asked, pointing a tiny finger at Cliff.

Cliff looked at her son, who had been quiet up to this point, in surprise. "I'm Cliff," he said with a smile. "What's your name?"

Her son finally plopped back down on the chair. "Sean," he answered as he reached forward and began grabbing at objects on the desk. He soon came back with a fistful of crumbled business cards.

"Put it back, Sean," she commanded in a stern voice, reaching for his hand to take the cards back.

"No, no, it's okay," Cliff told her with a grin. "I'm not prejudiced with my clientele. He could use it if he needs a good lawyer. So, when he can't afford one, then he has my number."

Veronica smiled, but still pulled the cards away when Sean shoved them in his mouth. "I should take him home now," she said, pulling her squirming son into her arms.

"Veronica." She looked up when he called her name. "I'm sorry about your father. He's a good man." She nodded, but didn't trust herself to be able to talk past the lump in her throat, and just waved goodbye.

They left and Veronica took Sean to the park, figuring he needed to get rid of some of his pent-up energy. As she watched him run around near the monkey bars, she tried to focus on him and not the guilt and fear that was lurking at the edges of her mind. She needed to find out what happened to her father.

Suddenly her phone rang in her pocket. She pulled it out, while still keeping her eyes on Sean, but glanced down at the caller id. It was Alicia. Veronica groaned. She had successfully avoided her for four days, and she had been hoping to go for a fifth. Alicia was a nice woman, but Veronica was having trouble dealing with the life her father had created for himself while she was gone without actually having him here to explain it to here.

Still, knowing that she could not hide from her much longer, Veronica raised the phone to her ear. "Hello."

"Hello," she heard Alicia say. "Veronica? How have you been? I haven't seen you in a few days."

"Yeah, I know. I guess we just… keep missing each other." Veronica dropped her head against the back of the bench. That sounded extremely lame, even to her.

"I was wondering if you and Sean would like to come to dinner at my house tonight," Alicia said.

"I don't know. I…" she trailed off, trying to desperately think of an excuse.

"I'm a great cook," Alicia replied hopefully.

Veronica came up blank in the excuse department. "Sure," she responded, hoping she sounded somewhat excited. "Sounds great."

"Alright." Well, at least Alicia sounded pleased. "See you at six."

"Yeah, sure," Veronica said and then hung up. She rolled her eyes and focused on Sean, who was playing with some other kids on the slide only a couple feet away from her. Veronica let him play for another twenty minutes before she took him back to the apartment to clean him up and take the dog for a quick walk.

At six p.m. on the dot, Veronica stood on the porch of the house that Alicia had given her directions to. She rang the doorbell and only moments later it opened. A boy of about seven or eight stood at the entrance. He glanced up at Veronica, down to Sean, and then back up at her.

"Hi," she said. "Um, I'm Veronica."

He squinted at her and opened his mouth, but another voice cut him off. "Veronica?" They both looked up to see Alicia walking to the door. She smiled at her. "You're right on time. We were just about to eat."

She smiled back, "Great."

Alicia opened the door further and gestured for her to enter. "This is my son, Darryl. Darryl, this is Veronica and her son, Sean."

Darryl squinted up at her. "You're too young to have a kid."

Veronica smiled awkwardly, but Alicia glared down at her son. "Darryl," she said sharply.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

Alicia rolled her eyes. "Go set the table." As he walked into the kitchen, Alicia turned back to Veronica and smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry. Sometimes he just says whatever he's thinking. It's like there's no filter at that age."

"It's fine," Veronica said. "I don't mind."

Alicia smiled. "Here, let me take your coat." Veronica handed it to her and bent down to take off Sean's.

"Mom," they heard a voice call as feet came bounding down the stairs. "Oh sorry," he said when he saw Veronica there.

"Oh, Veronica," Alicia said, gesturing the guy over. "This is my other son, Wallace." Veronica straightened and looked up at him. She saw the recognition dawn on his face at the same time as she realized why he looked so familiar.

"Wallace," she repeated, smiling uncomfortably.

He looked at her in confusion. "Hey,… I thought your name was Chelsea."

"I,um," she stuttered. She glanced at Alicia and saw that she also looked perplexed. "No, my name is actually Veronica."

Alicia looked between the two of them. "You've already met?"

"We met in New York," Wallace responded, looking at his mother uncomfortably. "When I went to visit Jackie." Veronica noticed the look of disdain that passed across Alicia's face when he said Jackie's name, but it was gone as quickly as it came.

"Mom, the pork roast is burning," they heard Darryl call from the kitchen.

"Oh, excuse me," Alicia said as she raced into the kitchen.

Veronica turned back to Wallace and they stood in an awkward silence while Sean played with a ball he discovered in the corner of the living room and babbled to himself.

"So," Wallace started, "You're Veronica?"

Veronica nodded, a tight smile on her face.

"Well, that explains why you looked so familiar?" She looked at him questionably and he hurriedly continued, "I've seen you in one of the old yearbooks. You were in a lot of the pictures, except your hair was longer."

"Yeah I cut it," she responded lamely. He quirked an eyebrow at her obvious statement and she gave a small laugh. "So, you went to Neptune High?"

He nodded with a roll of his eyes.

She snorted. "I guess it wasn't a great experience?'

"Let's just say I didn't have a good start and things went downhill from there," he told her. "I didn't have many friends. Jackie," he paused, but cleared his throat and continued, "Jackie was one of the few people I really got close to."

"I didn't know that Jackie went to Neptune when she came out here," Veronica said.

"Well, there are a lot of things Jackie doesn't tell people," he responded bitterly. Veronica looked at him, but did not say anything. Veronica had known Jackie, but they were never exactly close. There was not much she could say in her defense.

Alicia popped her head through the doorway to the kitchen. "The roast pork is officially inedible, but just give me fifteen minutes to make the chicken."

"Sure, Mom," Wallace said.

"No problem," Veronica responded politely. She looked around and saw Sean trying to open a group of cardboard boxes near the stairs. "Sean," she called and he looked up at her, the most innocent look he could muster on his face. Veronica reached into her bag and pulled out a picture book. "Play with this," she said, handing him the book. He looked at it and threw it down, choosing to explore other parts of the room. She rolled her eyes and turned back to Wallace. "Sorry."

He laughed. "It's cool. That's just clothes and stuff, nothing he can break. We have to bring it to the dorm tomorrow."

"Oh, you're moving in tomorrow? Where are you going?" she asked

"Hearst," he said with a smile. "I figured I'd stay close to home in case my mom or Darryl needed me for something."

"Yeah, and it's only like a ten minute drive if you need your laundry done or are sick of dining hall food," she responded with a smile.

"Definite pluses," he said, laughing. Sean walked between their legs and up to the coffee table that was only a foot from them. He began pulling books off of it and Veronica walked up behind him, picking his small, hyperactive body into her arms. She pulled the book out of his hands and saw that it was the two thousand and six yearbook for Neptune High.

Wallace looked down and read the cover. "Oh yeah, I must have left that there when I was packing."

She stared at it. "Can I look at it?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, sure," he said with a shrug.

Veronica sat on the couch and settled Sean next to her. Wallace, with nothing else to do, sat on the other side of her. She began flipping through it, past the first few pages with pictures of the very familiar building and teachers. She stopped when she hit a page with seven pictures on it. They were the faces of the six students and one teacher who died in the bus crash. Some of the people looked familiar, but none of them had been any of her former friends. It seems that none of the '09ers had been on the bus when it crashed. Could that have been a coincidence, or was it just the luck of the less privileged?

"That was really bad," Wallace said from beside her. "The bus driver committed suicide using the bus when it was coming back from the stadium."

"I remember," Veronica replied, glancing at all the faces again. "It was all over the news." She turned the page and began flipping through the seniors' graduation photos. Veronica avoided looking too long at the faces of all those who had tormented her so long ago. The faces of people who she had escaped from three years ago.

She stopped when her eyes landed on a photo of a fountain that she did not recognize.

"What's that?" she asked, tilting the book so Wallace could see it.

"That's that Lilly Kane memorial," he told her.

Veronica trailed her fingers over where, if she squinted, she could read the name 'Lilly Kane'. "There's a memorial?"

"Yeah, it's in the courtyard," he said. "They built it in junior year. I remember there was this candlelit ceremony and a video montage of her from when she was a kid." Veronica smiled slightly as she turned the page and saw a full sized picture of Lilly from sophomore year. Lilly probably would have loved having a whole ceremony and memorial devoted to her. All the attention on her and a monument that would make people remember her forever.

"Dinner's ready," Alicia's voice called from the kitchen.

"Coming," Wallace called back, getting up and walking toward the kitchen door.

Veronica placed the book back on the table and picked Sean up. She started to follow Wallace, but glanced back one last time. She stared at the yearbook's green and yellow cover, which contained page upon page of photos that illustrated what exactly she had left behind.

Veronica hugged her son's body closer to her own and slowly turned away.

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A/N: I am so sorry! I know I promised to have this chapter up MUCH sooner, and I really have no excuses. I have been extremely lazy. I was unmotivated and I did not want to force something that would come out sounding like crap, so I just waited. This actually should have been up last night, but I got sick and had to finish it today. Sorry and I really hope it was worth the wait.

A/N2: I would just like to say right now that all the people who have been reading, reviewing, putting this story on alert, and making it a favorite are extremely awesome. I really appreciate it and you have all been very encouraging. When it comes to reviews, I love all of them but never get to respond because I want to post the next chapter so quickly. But, since I took so long to update this chapter, I think all the people who posted on the last chapter deserve responses.

Kh2009: Thank you so much. I know I don't really like the angst and tension either, but it is necessary so we'll try to move through it as quickly as possible. But I'm excited for the LoVe too so I'm hoping it just makes it all worth it in the end. And I know you're a _Fire of Life_ reader, so I'm hoping to get that chapter up in the next two days. I've been even more neglectful of that one.

Isdonisgood: Umm, I think I'm going for the entire season one because I think that is the natural evolution of their relationship. There's going to have to be the "at their throats" before everything, especially since there are going to be more issues now that more time has passed and more things have happened then there actually was in season one. And your Wallace question has obviously just been answered, but I have to admit all your other questions got me really excited. This is exactly why I'm writing this fic, I get to explore all those things. So keep reading and all will be answered, some sooner than the others. (like next chapter :hint,hint: lol) I'm glad you liked the last chapter so much and the various interactions. I'm sorry I didn't update sooner and I don't really think this chapter answered any of your questions, but I hope you still liked it. And Logan's reaction to Sean? Gotta admit, I CANNOT wait!

: I'm so glad you love it! And, ugh, I hate waiting on the updates for the stories I'm reading so I know how you feel. SOooo sorry!

Agentnumber1: Thanks! I'm glad you like the Alicia and Veronica relationship. I kind of was just going to throw Alicia in for just the phone call but then remembered that she ran away also and I realized there was a whole dynamic there that I can play with. I'm hoping to develop this further, but it is a little difficult since I have no basis because Alicia kind of did not like Veronica in the show. And Yay Wallace! He's in this chapter, but he does not do much. Don't worry though, he'll become much more central as we go along. And I knew people were worrying about the LoVe, so I'm happy you're relieved.

Jacedes: Yeah, that's kind of how I think a first encounter with Logan had to go. And the relationships with Alicia and Wallace will definitely be developed in this story.

ZC70: I'm glad and I hope this was a better length for you. It's ten pages, if you take away all the space I'm using for my author's note. LOL!

Marte: I'm thrilled you LoVed it! I hope you like this chapter as well.

VegasButterfly: I'm really happy that you think so. I'm always so paranoid that I'm losing the characters as I go along.

LoveForever14: Yay! I love that you're enthusiastic about this story. I'm sorry you had to wait so and I hope it was worth it.

Navybee: Thank you so much! Hope you enjoyed it!

Serber: Thank you so much and I'm glad you enjoyed it even with the lack of LoVe. I love LoVe, but I kind of enjoyed their little interaction anyway.

Starcrazed: Yay! Someone has faith in me! Thank you so much. I know, snark is awesome and Logan and Veronica has some of the best I've ever seen. And that pesky little file is going to be the source of much consternation so I'm happy you're intrigued.

Monkeygirl03: I know, I like the direction of their relationship as well so I hope that I do it justice as time goes on. And everyone is so excited for when Logan meets Sean, including me, so I'm hoping no one is disappointed. It is going to be exciting watching their relationship develop and I can't wait to see how it goes as well. And the reactions and all that to Sean are slow coming, but they are coming. As you may have noticed, Veronica is kind of trying to shelter him for now. But she has to know that nothing stays hidden in Neptune for long! I'm thrilled you love this story and I hope you liked this update.

Chocolate scones: Don't worry if it's not a constructive review, I love any reviews I can get. I'm really glad you have liked it so far.

Bella: Yay, thanks for deciding to come read and I hope you like this chapter just as much.

L0vealways: It is really fun now that she is back. I know what's going to happen next (hehe) and I'm really excited to see how it goes also. I'll try to update more regularly.

Unearthlyangel89: You actually updated while I was writing so I get to answer your review as well. I'm so excited that you like my story and I'm honored that you think it's one of the best you read in awhile. I hope you liked this chapter too.

Okay, I think that was everyone and if I missed you I'm really sorry. I love all the reviews I've had to all the previous chapters, and I appreciate all of them even if I did not respond. I'll try to update the next chapter sooner, especially since I want to begin to answer many of your questions

Please Review :)


	11. Chapter 10

**Title:** Shattered

**Rating:** M

**Summary:** AU… What if Shelley Pomeroy's party had much larger repercussions? Begins pre-series

**Spoilers:** Eventually all 3 seasons

**Disclaimer:** In this chapter I used a few lines from the show, but I most definitely own nothing.

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"That kid really loves his cake," Darryl commented, watching in amazement as Sean began bouncing in his seat at the very sight of the chocolate concoction in Alicia's hands.

Alicia chuckled. "Don't even start. You weren't much better when you were his age."

"Still aren't," Wallace replied, lifting his drink to take a sip. Darryl glared and punched him in the shoulder, causing the cup in his hand to slosh onto the tablecloth. Wallace grinned. He quickly used his free arm to pull his younger brother into a headlock.

"Alright, that's enough," Alicia yelled when Darryl's flailing limbs came dangerously close to knocking over all the food on the table. They reluctantly separated. Darryl gave his brother one last shove before, under his mother's strict glare, obediently settling back in his chair.

"He started it," Wallace muttered.

Alicia quirked an eyebrow. "You're going to college, he's in third grade."

Sean, who had been happily watching the spectacle, turned to Wallace. "Again," he demanded, pounding his chubby fist against the table.

"Sean," Veronica warned, pulling his outstretched arm off the table, "If you start hitting things, you can't have cake." Sean pouted and wiggled in his seat, but did not hit the table again. He had learned in the past that Veronica would be more than willing to carry through on that threat if he did not behave.

Alicia beamed down at the toddler but then sternly turned on Wallace. "Can we please try to set a good example?" she asked him, glancing meaningfully at both Darryl and Sean.

He rolled his eyes, but acquiesced. They all managed to get through the rest of dessert without incident. The cake was delicious, though Veronica focused more on Sean not getting the staining food all over his white shirt than on the taste.

When they were finished eating, Alicia all but pushed Veronica into the living room to watch a movie with the boys. Veronica wanted to leave, but Sean seemed so happy to be able to play with Darryl and the older boy seemed to be able to tolerate the toddler's presence. She figured that this was probably better than keeping him cooped up in the apartment for another night.

Wallace groaned as yet another talking car raced across the screen. "This is terrible."

"I think I can feel my brain cells dying," she agreed.

Darryl, who had been the one to insist on watching the Pixar movie, scowled at them from his spot on the floor. "Shhh." The moment he turned back to the television, the two teenagers on the couch cracked up. Darryl glared, but just silently inched closer to the television. Sean had not even been disturbed, his attention completely absorbed by the flashing colors and animated figures on the screen.

As the movie was ending, Alicia, who had been reading upstairs, quietly descended the stairs. "Is everybody having fun?" she asked once she saw the scrolling ending credits.

Wallace chuckled. "Smooth, Mom."

"What?"

"You checkin' up on us?"

"Of course not," she replied, sounding slightly miffed. Though, even Veronica could tell that she was lying. "I came down to tell Darryl it was time for bed."

Darryl groaned. "No, I want to watch the movie with them."

"The movie's over," she responded, one hand resting on her hip.

"They're watching another one."

Veronica glanced down at Sean snoozing with his head on her lap. "Actually, I should probably get him home."

"Oh no, stay," Alicia encouraged. "Watch the movie. I can put him in the bed upstairs while I read."

Veronica paused, chewing on her bottom lip while she considered it.

"He'll be fine," she assured her. "In fact, I was going to ask if you wanted me to watch him tomorrow."

Veronica could feel her brow furrowing in confusion. "Tomorrow?"

Alicia nodded. "It's just that I know you have a lot on your plate right now, and I thought you would like a day to yourself."

"I couldn't ask you to…"

"No, I want to," Alicia corrected her, cutting off her protests. "It'll be nice to have him here to take my mind off the fact that I'm losing my son tomorrow."

Wallace rolled his eyes, but a smile was playing on his lips. "I'll be a ten minute drive away."

"Still…"

Darryl looked up at her. "What about me?"

"You'll be at school," she told him with a smile.

"I don't have to be," he said hopefully

"You're not missing your first day." There was no mistaking the finality in her tone. "And, speaking of which, I don't want you falling asleep in class. Go to bed." Darryl grumbled as he stood and stomped up the stairs.

When he was gone, Alicia turned back to Veronica. "So what do you say?"

"I guess…" Veronica agreed hesitantly.

Alicia smiled broadly, "Great." She reached down and Veronica carefully transferred Sean into her waiting arms. Alicia held the sleeping child with all the confidence of an experienced mother. "We'll just go upstairs and leave you two to your movie."

Veronica watched as they went up the stairs. Then she turned to Wallace, who was already sifting through the DVD collection near the television. "Your mom's really nice."

"Yeah," he agreed absentmindedly as he read the back of a DVD box. "She loves Sean. I think she might want to keep him." Wallace looked up and laughed at the worried look on her face. "Chill, girl. I'm kidding. You wanna watch this?" he asked, holding up _The Big Lebowski_.

Veronica grinned. "God, you have no idea! Do you know how long it's been since I've seen anything with higher than a g-rating?"

"I'll take that as a yes," he said, placing the disk in the player.

Twenty minutes into the movie, Veronica's curiosity got the better of her. "So, what happened when you moved here?"

Wallace turned to her, raising an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"You said you had a bad start."

"Oh," he chuckled uncomfortably, "I pissed off the wrong people and kind of… got taped naked to the flagpole."

"PCHers?" she asked.

He stared at her. "How did you know?"

"It's one of their signature punishments," she answered, smiling sympathetically.

"Yeah, well it's effective." He sighed, "I didn't get cut down until fourth period when a teacher happened to see me out her window. And that was just my first day."

"I've heard worse."

"Oh yeah," he challenged. "Name one."

"Off the top my head?" She took a moment to think, but came up blank.

After a minute, Wallace laughed. "I thought so." He shrugged. "It wasn't all bad, though. I mean I was on the basketball team. That was fun. But it just always seemed like a lot of bad stuff happened there, you know?'

Veronica nodded. "Neptune is ground zero for bad luck."

"Yeah," Wallace agreed, "we almost left a couple months after we moved here. There was a bomb scare at the school and Mom got worried that it wasn't safe."

Veronica stared at him in shock. "A bomb scare?"

Wallace nodded. "It was some junior. He even had all the stuff in his trunk. But there was this cop undercover as a student and he arrested him before he could plant it."

"Wow, how Jump Street."

"I think the guy's name was like Norris or something," he told her. "I'm not sure. I didn't know him."

Veronica's brow crinkled as she processed this. "I did," she murmured. "He was nice to me." She remembered how he had been the one person to actually stand up for her, or even talk to her, in sophomore year. Yeah, he was sometimes a bully to others, but Veronica could not imagine him trying to blow up the school. They both sat quietly, distracted from the movie that was still playing in the background.

He broke the silence first. "What about you? Was high school the best years of your life?"

"Year and a half," she responded softly.

"What?"

Veronica turned to him. "I was only there for a year and a half. Then I ran away. So what do you think?" she replied, frustration creeping into her tone.

"Oh, right," Wallace mumbled, looking down. "Sorry"

She closed her eyes. "No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. It's just… I…" She looked up and saw that he was watching her, waiting patiently for her explanation. But she didn't know how to tell him. Or if she even wanted to. How could she explain to someone with his whole future in front of him that the most she was anticipating in life was minimum wage? That she would give anything right now to switch places with him.

"I should really get Sean home," she said instead, choosing to cop out of the conversation altogether.

"Yeah, okay," he replied, turning off the movie. Veronica collected her son from upstairs, said an awkward goodbye to both Wallace and Alicia, and then practically fled to her car.

The whole night and most of the next morning was spent trying to suppress unwanted thoughts about her future. Veronica had been almost fine with it in New York, but it was all that she could think about now that she was back in Neptune. Now that she was surrounded by people who she should have graduated with and who she would have gone to college with. Veronica never regretted Sean, he was too much a part of her for her to deny him, but she wished that she could have done both. That she could have raised him and, at least, gotten more than a tenth grade education.

By the time she arrived at Alicia's house, Veronica had successfully blocked all thoughts of college from her mind. It was a skill that she had mastered and refined over the past three years. A skill that had been necessary for her to be able to survive all this time.

Veronica handed him over to the older woman, along with a bag that she had carefully packed with toys and various supplies. Alicia smiled as she took Sean's hand and Veronica could almost feel the tears prickling as his little hand left hers. Inwardly, she reprimanded herself for getting so upset. It was not like she had never left him with a babysitter before. This was nothing compared to the first time she had to leave him at Miss Helen's when he was five weeks old. Get a grip Veronica, she thought to herself. This town was definitely wreaking havoc on her emotions.

She kneeled down to give him a hug. Though, he wriggled out of her grip a lot sooner than she wanted him to so that he could play with the toys that were clearly visible in the Fennels' living room.

Back in her car, Veronica drove onto the road that led to the hospital, but then guiltily turned onto a street going in the opposite direction. She wanted to go be with her father, but there was somewhere else she needed to be right now.

Pulling into the empty parking lot, she got out of her car and walked up the familiar cement path. She stopped when she was standing in front of a red table. The same table she had been exiled to when she was kicked out of the elite's golden table.

If she closed her eyes, she could still see the numerous times that she tried to discreetly make her way back to this table only to have someone stick out their foot and trip her. Then people would laugh, point, and whisper while she tried to pick herself and her food off the ground with as much dignity as she could muster.

Veronica was doing her best to avoid closing her eyes.

Neptune High had not yet resumed classes for the year, so she was able to wander around the school's courtyard without anyone trying to kick her out or have her arrested for trespassing. It was just her alone with her memories. That in of itself was scary enough.

Walking down the steps, she could see that the fountain was right across from her. The reflection on its glossy black surface allowed her to watch herself approach. She studied the beautifully carved name on the top, the swirling pattern along the sides, and the circle at the center that she knew served as the spout for the water when it was turned on. Veronica read the words in the center.

_Is the end, the end…_

_Or merely a new beginning?_

_Can that which once started_

_Suddenly be stopped?_

_Or is this a cosmic circle_

_That makes us think we are over_

_Just before we begin again?_

It was beautifully written. Almost poetic. And something obviously chosen by Celeste.

Lilly would have hated it with every fiber of her being. Celeste, the woman who critiqued her more than she ever mothered her, chose the epitaph to summarize the life she had not even known or understood. Not that she ever wanted to. From the beginning, Celeste wanted Lilly to be the dutiful daughter who proved herself worthy of being the heiress of the Kane fortune. But Lilly was Lilly. And Lilly could not be restrained or molded, no matter how hard Celeste tried. So, if Celeste could not shape Lilly into the ideal Kane while she was alive, then she made damn sure that she formed the perfect lasting memory. One completely opposite of the real Lilly.

Lilly would have preferred something that she would have deemed as awesome as herself.

But the most fitting would have probably been, "Die young and leave a pretty corpse." Because that really was all she had been able to accomplish in her too short life.

Veronica had no idea how long she stood there, staring at the polished surface of the travesty of a memorial. Lilly had been Veronica's best friend. Her life deserved to be properly commemorated for what it was. Not for what other people had hoped it could have been. She was so wrapped up in these thoughts that she did not hear the footsteps until it was too late.

"You're not supposed to be here," an angry voice stated from behind her.

She did not have to turn around. That was a voice that she never would be able to forget. And the sound of it sent cold dread tingling down her spine. But she slowly turned around to face him anyway.

"Hello, Duncan." She tried to say it confidently, but the words came out as barely more than a whisper.

He just stared at her, the expression on his face telling her that he was too shocked to even speak. His eyes bored into her and she felt like cringing. She did not want to admit it, but she was afraid. Duncan could very well have been the person that murdered Lilly. May even have been the person who put her father in a coma.

Her ex-boyfriend.

Her first love.

Her possible brother.

Duncan took a step towards her, but she immediately backed away. This seemed to snap him out of whatever trance he had been caught in.

"Veronica?" He timidly asked, as if he was afraid she was an apparition and would disappear if he spoke too loudly. "How… What're you doing here?"

She turned to the memorial. "I wanted to see it."

"No," he said, his eyes still tracking her every movement. "I mean why are you here. In Neptune."

Veronica's gaze did not waver from the memorial. "I know what you meant."

He quietly studied her. "It's… It's good to see you again," he finally said, allowing her to avoid the question.

She stiffened, not knowing how to respond. The part of her that was still Lilly's best friend and his ex-girlfriend wanted to hug him. To kiss him. To tell him that she had missed him. The part that knew about her father's investigation wanted to run away as fast and as far as she could. The part that acknowledged their possible paternal connection wanted to puke.

"Why are you here?" she asked instead.

He was silent for a moment. "I came to say goodbye."

She looked at him curiously.

"I'm going to Harvard," Duncan told her. "In a week. I wanted to say goodbye to Lilly before I left."

Veronica nodded, but she noted the hollow quality to his tone. "Congratulations," she said. When he just gave her a weak smile, she grew even more confused. "Isn't this what you always wanted?"

"Not anymore," he murmured, his eyes finally moving off her. They instead just stared blankly at the memorial behind her.

It was unsettling to watch him. Duncan almost seemed to be a shell of his former self. But what was even more disturbing was how much he reminded her of herself, before she left Neptune. Was that what she could have become if she had stayed?

"I have to go," she finally said.

He barely acknowledged her remark, so she began walking back to her car.

"I'm glad you're back," he called when she had gotten to the stairs. Veronica turned slightly to glance at him. "I missed you," he continued, sincerity etched across his features.

Heart pounding in her chest, Veronica just turned and went back to her car as fast as she could. She sat in the driver's seat and took a calming breath. Then another one. And another. Ten minutes later, she figured she would probably be able to drive without her trembling hands causing her to accidently swerve into a ditch.

Veronica knew it had been a mistake to break the routine. From now on, she would make sure to stay away from any places where she would have to go through anymore excruciating reunions.

She caught a glimpse of the clock on the dashboard and noticed it was one in the afternoon. Veronica had not even realized so much time had passed. Turning her car onto the street, she drove back to Alicia's house.

As she pulled into the driveway, Veronica instantly spotted Alicia sitting next to Sean while he rolled a basketball in the lawn. Sean saw as she walked onto the grass and came running up to her. "Mama," he happily called, gripping onto her leg.

She knelt in front of him. "Hey, baby. Did you have fun?"

"We play baskaball," he told her, pointing to the abandoned ball in the middle of the lawn.

"You did?" Veronica asked, tickling his stomach.

He giggled, squirming away from her fingers. "We get ice cream," he said with a childish lisp.

"Umm... we are?" she repeated, looking up at Alicia.

"Yeah, I promised to take him to get ice cream," the older woman informed her.

Veronica nodded slowly. "Okay."

"Actually," Alicia gave her a small smile, "I was wondering if you could do me a favor."

"Uh, sure. I guess. What kind of favor?" she asked cautiously.

"I have to go pick up Darryl, and I can take Sean to get ice cream along the way, but Wallace accidently left behind his bed sheets and I was hoping you could bring them to him."

Inwardly, Veronica groaned. Hearst was probably the last possible place that she wanted to go, but Alicia had been really nice to her over the past week. She did kind of owe her. And, besides, she might need her to babysit again. "Sure," she agreed, giving her a tight smile of her own.

Alicia beamed. "Oh great! Let me just get the sheets for you."

When she was gone, Veronica looked down to where her son was playing with the necklace around her neck. "Be grateful," she murmured. "I'm doing this for you, buddy." Alicia came back with the sheets and told Veronica where to find Wallace.

It took just over ten minutes for her to reach the college, though it felt like forever before she could find a spot to park. The campus was completely crowded with students and their parents, all of whom were carrying around boxes to the various dorm buildings.

She walked into the building Alicia had told her to and pushed her way through the bustling hallway. Reading the numbers on all the doors, she stopped and knocked on the one that she thought was Wallace's.

The door immediately opened. But the guy standing in front of her was definitely not Wallace. Veronica really hoped that she had the right room because she did not feel like spending the rest of her day knocking on random doors.

The guy studied her. "You're not campus police, are you?"

"No," she told him, "I'm not."

He sighed dejectedly.

Veronica tried to look around him into the room. "I'm looking for Wallace. Is he here?"

"Umm, yea." The guy moved to the side and Veronica was able to see Wallace sitting beside a desk.

"Veronica?" he said, a friendly but confused smile on his face.

She stepped into the room. "Hey. You left your bed sheets," she told him, holding up the package.

"Oh right." He stood and took them. "I totally forgot. Thanks."

"No problem." Veronica turned and saw that the other guy was still staring at her. "Hey," she said uncomfortably. "I'm Veronica."

He grinned. "Piz," he replied, shaking her hand. "So, are you…"

"Hey," a voice from the door cut him off. They all looked up to see a guy with curly brown hair and wearing a paisley button down shirt. "Are you the one whose stuff was stolen?"

Piz stepped forward. "Yeah, that's me."

The guy nodded. "Frak, That blows. I'm Moe, your R.A. The campus police want to take your statement," he informed him, pointing out the door.

"Okay. I'll be right back," he said to Wallace and Veronica before he followed Moe out of the room.

Veronica looked around the sparsely decorated dorm room. "His stuff was stolen?"

Wallace nodded. "Yeah, they took everything right out of his car."

"That sucks," she replied, putting her hands in her pockets.

"We're gonna go take another look around once the cops leave," he told her. "You want to come?"

Veronica shrugged. "I don't know. You're mom is still watching Sean. I should probably get back to him."

Wallace sat back down at the desk. "Sean's fine. Mom wants to take care of him. She wants to help you." He watched her carefully. "I think she feels like she is doing it for your dad."

She was saved from having to reply to that when Piz walked back into the room.

"Well, apparently there is no such thing as the Hearst Welcome Wagon Committee," he said, a completely crestfallen expression on his face. "They said that there is probably not much they can do about it."

Wallace stood. "C'mon, we'll look again." He turned to Veronica. "Coming?" She sighed, but nodded, and followed them out of the building. They walked until they were standing by the curb, a very dirty car in front of them.

Veronica circled the car, some of the instincts she had picked up from her father kicking in. She stopped by the door on the driver's side and studied it.

"So, how do you two know each other?" she heard Piz whisper

"It's really complicated," Wallace replied.

"Complicated like… how?"

"They didn't break in," Veronica interrupted them, figuring it would be best to stop that conversation as quickly as possible.

Piz blushed. "Yea, it wasn't locked. The girl with the Welcome Wagon said she would watch it for me."

"Wait, you left all your possessions in an unlocked car with a total stranger?" she clarified, staring at him in disbelief.

"Well, when you say it out loud…" Piz murmured, looking down.

Wallace patted him sympathetically on the back. "You can borrow some of my stuff until your parents send you more," he offered.

"Thanks," he mumbled. Then he groaned and banged his head against the roof of his car. "I can't believe they took everything. Do you know what I had in there?"

Veronica took a stab in the dark. "Porn?"

Wallace grinned, but Piz just shook his head miserably. "My guitar. A 1967 Gretsch Astro-Jet Red Top," he looked at her, waiting for her reaction. She turned to Wallace, but he just shrugged.

Piz threw his hands in the air in exasperation. "It's like the holy grail of guitars."

"I'm more of a tambourine kind of gal," she replied, noticing that someone had written 'unwashed' in the dust on the car.

Wallace looked around. "Maybe we can ask people if they had seen anything." Piz unenthusiastically nodded and the two separated, walking up to some of the random people milling around the outside of the building.

"Okay, well I'll just… do whatever," Veronica said, though it fell on deaf ears. The other two were already gone, so she walked down one of the paved paths in front of her.

Hearst Campus really was beautiful. Everywhere she looked, she was surrounded by white buildings with red shingled roofs and palm trees. She stopped when she reached the path's crossroad, where there were a bunch of tables advertising for various clubs. Above her was a large sign that read "Take Back the Night." Veronica looked beyond the sign, and just saw more buildings. She really had no idea where she was going.

Veronica was about to go back the way she came when she heard catcalling behind her. She turned to see a group of frats following a bald girl, yelling lewd suggestions at her while she handed pamphlets out to any passing females.

She was about to just walk away when she happened to get a better look at the face of one of the frats. Veronica sighed and rolled her eyes. A pack of disgusting perverts in Neptune? Of course Dick was their leader.

"I didn't know they were taping Girls Gone Wild here." She turned to where Logan was sitting on a bench, his lips pulled back into a smirk. "And on the first day too. How exciting!"

Veronica glared, but she was more pissed at herself than him. She seriously needed to learn to be more observant. "Do you really have nothing better to do than annoy the crap out of me?"

"Hey, you're the one stalking me," he declared.

She crossed her arms across her chest. "And how did you come to that brilliant deduction?"

He lifted one arm and lazily gestured toward the students walking around them. "You see these people? They're all going to class." Then he pointed to her. "You're not. You have no books."

Veronica scoffed. "Neither do you."

Logan reached into his pocket. "I have a pencil," he smugly responded, holding it out for her to see.

"It's still flawed logic," she replied.

He gave her a self satisfied smile. "Am I wrong?"

"No, Logan," she conceded. "You're right. I've been walking around this campus for hours just so we could have this stimulating conversation. Thank you so much for completing my day."

"Well, I…" But he was cut off by a sudden commotion. They both turned to see four girls running up to the cluster of frats and start spraying something in their faces. From the way the guys were all fleeing with their eyes covered, Veronica guessed it was Mace. She snorted when she saw a girl with a nose ring kick Dick in the ass as he stumbled away.

Logan whistled in appreciation. "You gotta hand it to Dick. He sure does know how to class up a joint."

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah. He's the embodiment of class and subtlety."

"It's an honor to call him my BFF," he replied, mock saluting in the direction of the path Dick had run down.

"BFF?" she repeated. "What about Duncan? Don't tell me the bromance is dead."

He stared at her for a moment. "You really have been gone a long time," he said quietly.

"What're you talking about?" she asked, watching as he uncomfortably tugged at the long sleeves of his shirt. It was a habit of his that she remembered from back when they were kids.

But then the mask was back in place and he merely smirked. "Well, as fun as this has been, I've got better places to be. Preferably places with people I won't catch something from. I know it's hard, but try not to follow me."

Veronica watched him walk away before she turned in the opposite direction. He was right. She really had been gone a long time. Veronica felt like she was in the Twilight Zone or something. Everything looked like what she remembered, but it was starting to become glaringly obvious how different Neptune actually was now.

When she walked back to Piz's car, she could not find Wallace or Piz. Either they were still trying to find witnesses, or they had given up and gone back to their dorm room. Sighing, Veronica just made her way back to her own car. There was not much she could do to help Piz anyway.

A half hour later, Veronica had picked up Sean from Alicia's and was walking into her own apartment. Sean immediately climbed up onto the couch next to Backup and started petting him. She smiled as she listened to him start babbling about his day to the dog while Backup excitedly licked his hands.

Veronica walked into the kitchen, dropping her bag on the counter on her way to the refrigerator. But she turned back when she heard the sound of things falling onto the floor. She kneeled beside the mess and realized that she had knocked over the pile of mail that had been steadily growing on the counter.

As she started picking up two months worth of mail and piling it back up, her gaze fell on a pink slip of paper buried beneath a couple of white envelopes. Veronica picked it up and held it to the light so that she could read the small print. After a moment, she realized it was a bail receipt.

And it was dated a week before her father was attacked.

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A/N: Okay, this morning I reread the last chapter to kind of get back into the story's mindset, and I happened to notice the many grammatical and spelling errors. I went back and fixed all the ones I could find, but I would just like to take this time to apologize. When I write these chapters, I always reread them to look for mistakes but it's usually very late at night and I miss a lot more than I spot. I'm usually so excited to see what you all think that I just post right away. So if the errors are as distracting for all of you as they were for me, then I'm very sorry.

A/N2: So half the fun of writing this story, and hopefully reading it, is that I get to take three years of mysteries and storylines and kind of unweave them so that we can see different outcomes from what happened in the show. Some of the events in the show obviously have not happened in this story because they were caused by Veronica, but most of the mysteries in each episode happened of their own accord and were just solved by Veronica. I want to show you the effects of many of these cases going unsolved, but there were so many that I can barely remember them all. I'm going to do as many as I can, but if anybody would like to know what happened to a certain favorite minor character or episode mystery then just tell me and I will do my best to at least mention it somewhere. But don't worry about any of the main characters or the season long mysteries, because I already have plans for all of those.

Please Review :)


	12. Chapter 11

**Title:** Shattered

**Rating:** M

**Summary:** AU… What if Shelley Pomeroy's party had much larger repercussions? Begins pre-series

**Spoilers:** Eventually all 3 seasons

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

She should never have come back to Neptune. That was all Veronica could think as she sat in her car, her eyes staring blankly out the windshield and her hands clenched tightly around the steering wheel. For the second morning in a row, Veronica had been forced to drop Sean off at the Fennels'. Alicia only smiled and told her that she did not mind since she had the rest of the week off anyway.

Apparently Alicia worked at Kane's Software. For a brief moment, Veronica considered that maybe her father had only been dating this woman to get close to Jake Kane. But that thought left as quickly as it had came. Her father would never do something like that, even if it would help solve Lilly's murder. Then Veronica felt guilty for even considering the possibility.

Veronica sighed, rubbing her tired eyes. She glanced over at the slip of paper on the seat next to her that was the cause of her sleepless night. When she had found the bail receipt yesterday, she had been confused. It said that her father had paid the bail, but she did not recognize the name of the person he had bailed out. Apparently, since she had left town, her father had taken up bailing out guys who get their jollies from shoplifting at toy stores.

Movement at the corner of her eye caught her attention and Veronica glanced up as the door to the house she had been sitting in front of opened. She read the address on the slip of paper once more before she stepped out of her car.

The man, who had been jogging down his front stairs, stopped when he saw her. "You lost little girl?"

Veronica walked up to his front gate. "You Eli?"

"Depends," he said, glancing her up and down. "Who's asking?"

"I need to ask you a few questions about Keith Mars," she said, crossing her arms across her chest.

Eli raised an eyebrow at her, "Who?" He opened the gate and stepped past her, making his way to the motorcycle at the curb.

"Keith Mars," she repeated. "He bailed you out of jail two months ago."

"Mars? Hmmm," he rubbed his chin in an exaggerated thinking pose. "Sorry, not ringing any bells."

"Really?" Veronica questioned, glancing down. "It says here that you were arrested for shoplifting at Neptune's Toys Galore Factory. Was the allure of My Little Pony really that hard to resist?"

Eli angrily shook his head as he pulled a wrench out of the toolbox near his motorcycle. "It was one of those Hannah Montana barbies."

Veronica smirked. "And how jealous were the homies when you showed up to the rumble with the prettiest doll?"

"It was my niece's birthday," he sneered, "and I was gonna pay for the damn thing, but grandma behind the counter didn't realize that even the help makes enough money these days to buy a piece of shit toy."

"And what does this have to do with Keith Mars?"

Eli looked up at her from where he was working on his motorcycle, "Who?"

Veronica glared at him, "Why did he bail you out?"

He stared at her for a moment. "He offered to pay my bail if I answered a couple of questions."

"Questions about what?"

"My connection," Eli answered, turning his attention back to the gear he was fixing.

"Connection?" Veronica felt her brow furrow in confusion. "Drugs? Did he want to know who you were dealing for?"

Eli ignored her, making one last adjustment to his motorcycle and tossing the wrench back into the box.

"And what did you tell him?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I said I don't sell to former Sheriffs. The last thing I need is to land my ass back in prison."

"My father does not do drugs," Veronica told him, clenching her fists.

Eli smirked, holding up his hands in surrender. "No offense to daddy, but people don't come to me unless they need something."

Veronica glared. "Who's your connection?" she asked. When he just chuckled, she angrily turned back towards her car. Her father was NOT an addict. It did not matter how long she was gone, that was something about him she knew would never change. He was someone she could depend on. He always was.

"I know where your car is," she heard Eli's voice call from behind her

Veronica turned back to him. "What?" she asked, confused.

"Your car," he repeated, shoving his hands in the pockets of his leather fists. "When nobody picked it up after five days, I took it."

Veronica stared for a moment and then recognition dawned on her. That night she had left was one she spent a lot of time trying to forget. "I told you to leave it."

Eli shrugged. "If you want it back, I can get it for you. For the right price, of course," he said with a smirk.

Veronica glared at him. "Really, Eli?" she asked, her eyes narrowing to slits. "You need to learn to stop being so charitable. You just give and give and give." She stepped into her car and slammed the door. Pulling out her car key, she put it in the ignition and was about to pull away when she heard a knock on her window.

Staring straight ahead, she rolled down the window. "What?" she spat out.

"I may have mentioned something about the Fitzpatricks when he was here." Veronica's head shot up, but Eli was looking at the ground. He avoided her eyes. "Your dad was a decent Sheriff." Then he walked away.

As she turned her car around and drove back to her father's office, Veronica considered this. If Eli was telling her the truth, then it is possible that her father was investigating the Fitzpatricks before he was attacked.

She may finally have a lead

A/N: This is really only 1/3 of a chapter but it has been so long since I've written that it has become much more difficult. I'm really hoping there are people out there still willing to read after all this time. The next chapter will definitely be up in the next couple of weeks, just have to finish a few finals first :(

**New (6/10/11) A/N: **So, despite numerous attempts, I have been unable to update this story in a year. I'm actually looking for someone to co-author this story with me so I can finish it this year. If you are interested, let me know.


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